5 Players who underachieved in the past 15 years
In this post I will highlight 5 players that underachieved
and I will discuss why I feel this way and maybe what could have been if they
didn't underachieve. These are in no particular order.
1. Nikolay Davydenko - This is not a HUGE underachievement,
as the now 32 year old Russian has 21 titles to his name, but I feel that he
could have done more. Nikolay's play style was as of a poor man's Andre Agassi.
He had a good, powerful baseline game and could return well. Great footwork and
good on the run. He did not play with much variety in that he stayed near the
baseline most of the time, which may have hurt his potential a bit. Unfortunately
Nikolay was in the era of the great Roger Federer and having this man in your
way makes it harder to win majors.
When I say he underachieved in his career, I am saying that
he was hampered by injuries for most of his career. He had a lower back injury
in the early 2000s, had a leg injury in 2008, and then had a slew of foot
injuries after that. He had the game to beat some of the top guys here and
there, which is good enough to win masters events rather than majors. However,
injuries prevented him from playing enough to acquire more titles and that is
why I say that is career was underwhelming compared to what it could have been.
2. Andy Roddick - Again I stress that this is under the
category of, "What could have been?" when it comes to Andy Roddick.
The American won a total of 32 titles in his career including the US Open in
2003. 2003 was easily his best year in that he won a total of 6 titles in that
year, the most of any year he played. Just like Nikolay, Andy was included in
the Roger Federer era. Andy made it to 1 US Open final and 3 Wimbledon finals
in which he did not win. In these 4 major finals Andy advanced to, he lost to
Roger Federer in all 4. It's amazing he could still have such a bright sense of
humor and personality on the tour when one player utterly dominates you on the
biggest stage this many times. If Roger Federer didn't exist, it would be safe
to say that Andy Roddick would have more than 1 slam title as his game was very
well suited for grass.
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova - She is still only 28 years old, but
we have come to know her as one of the supreme head cases on the tour. In her
career she managed to win 2 slam titles, the 2004 US Open and the 2009 French
Open. She has such a smooth game and is not afraid to move forward, she can go
toe-to-toe with the top players in the WTA, but many times she could not close
it out. Svetlana had the game to win way more than 2 slam titles and she was
moving into her prime during a weaker era. However, her mental strength and
ability to perform under immense pressure was very poor. If she had the ability
to close out matches more cleanly and keep her cool, I have no doubt saying
that she would have AT LEAST 5-6 slam titles under her belt right now.
4. Kirsten Flipkens - Does the name sound familiar? She was
just a semi finalist at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships and looks like she is
on the rise. Although she is enjoying some success this year, she is already 27
years old and has only made the 4th round or better at a Slam twice. This girl
won the 2003 Wimbledon and US Open girl's juniors Grand Slam Championships and
looked well on her way to being a force in the women's game. Then came the blood
clots and nagging wrist injury that stopped her from becoming a good player.
The wrist injuries first started to appear in 2010 and never got much better
until this year. She actually had to get surgery on the wrist that same year.
The next year her single's results were lacking due to the wrist surgery and
lack of match play.
The blood clots found
in her calf in 2012 kept her from playing for months, which not only affects
the short term, but the long term since she was not match fit. At the end of
the 2012, Kim Clijsters said she would help her as a coach part-time and that
seemed to jump start her career in the latter stages. I am not saying Kirsten would be a perennial
grand slam champion, but I think she may have easily been in the top 10 had she
been healthy for her career.
5. Gael Monfils - The wacky, energetic and entertaining
Frenchman had a very promising junior career in winning the first 3 junior
grand slam events in 2004. With all of his talent he only has 4 titles to show
for it. In his career, he is a horrid 4-10 in finals of tour events and the
titles he grabbed were not the big ones (Sopot, Metz, Montpellier and
Stockholm). Monfils is still only 26 years old and has the chance to really get
things under control and use his talent and physicality to start winning more
matches. He is one of the fastest players on tour and can play defense with the
best of them There are way too many times where he looks like he is out there
to give a show rather than just win a match. Along with the constant brain farts
and aggravating style of play, Monfils also seemed to have an injury every year
of his career. The long list of injuries include: a back, hamstring, knee,
wrist, stomach, another back, another wrist, ANOTHER back, and another knee.
If he had just been half as healthy as he was and quit with
his antics, Gael could have been a bona fide top 10 player for years. With
Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray running the grand slams, I am not going to
say he would have won a grand slam, but he could have achieved more in the
masters events and 250 events.
There are many more players who have certainly underachieved throughout the past 15 years, but these are 5 players that really stand out to me. Another one that could easily be on this list would be Anna Chakvetadze, but I want to keep it to 5 players. If you enjoy the list make sure to follow my blog and tune in for the next post!
