The second week of a grand slam is filled with names that even the most casual viewer can rattle off, but then again there are also a handful of names that everyone sees but never remembers. The reason that people don’t remember these names is that those players are stuck in a kind of tennis purgatory. Most pros would be lucky to get to a top ten ranking, but these players consistently hang out there, destined to never go any further, usually due to some physical or psychological shortcoming.
One of my personal favourites from the last decade has called it quits this year. With his retirement, Nikolay Davydenko leaves the tour having earned a ranking as high as third in the world, despite never winning a major, or even getting to a final. The major knock against Davydenko? He was not the physical specimen you see at the top of the rankings today. Weighing maybe 160lbs and at 5″11′, he was never going to use his strength as a weapon. However, what he did better than almost anyone was grind. His style of play could best be described as blue collar; he would go out on court and not miss the ball while running a half marathon side to side. However, looking at the great Russian tennis explosion, he was the lone survivor still battling in the trenches. I don’t know if that speaks more to the rigours of the Russian tennis philosophy, or to Davydenko’s mental strength.
Who then is this generation’s bridesmaid? Going solely based on physical build and playing resume my answer is: Gilles Simon. Simon has a similar build, and while not playing the same style necessarily he will always be around for week two of the majors. He has made a career out of frustrating the top players in win or defeat, yet has never really cracked into the top flight of elite players. There’s nothing wrong with being a Davydenko type player, in fact quite the opposite. I think that to do well as a sport tennis needs players like this. These workers, slowly chasing the top players and constantly reminding them that one slipup could cost them that top status. This offseason a new crop of similar players will eye a climb up the rankings. With this year’s shake up at the majors you can almost argue that the time is right for most of them to make a major move.
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