There are two groups of underachievers in tennis. Those who were their own worst enemy and those whose success was overshadowed by brilliant players who dominated the era they played in.
In GROUP ONE I would place Marat Safin, Goran Ivanisevic, Henri Leconte, Grigor Dimitrov and perhaps Nick Kyrgios (still a work in progress). One could even make the case that Boris Becker and John McEnroe could have perhaps achieved more (despite their amazing accomplishments) if they weren’t so self defeating.
In the SECOND GROUP I would add Andy Roddick, Lletyon Hewitt, David Ferrer and Andy Murray. They all had this misfortune of playing during the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic period. Kai Nishikori and Dominic Thiem may be the latest victims here. Other players such as Michael Stich, Richard Kraijcek, Pat Rafter, Michael Chang and Mark Philippoussis could probably have won more if their careers didn’t coincide with the Sampras-Agassi ‘winfest’.
Vitas Gerulatis, whose career overlaps with Connors, Borg and McEnroe could probably be classified in both categories.
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