By Charlie Bricker
It’s not the sort of statistical minutia that one aspires to, but, in Paris on Sunday afternoon, Elena Dementieva won her 16th career WTA title and not only edge to within five of Pam Shriver’s 21 but further solidify her dubious credentials as the best woman player never to win a Grand Slam singles.
You could hoist a pretty good argument on this issue. Does that negative “honor” indeed belong to Dementieva, whose prodigious ground strokes have been twice betrayed in her efforts to win The Big One by her dicey serving. Or is it Shriver, who won 70 percent of her matches over a long career and reached one major final, losing a competitive straight-setter to Chris Evert at the 1978 U.S. Open.
Or, if I can offer up a few more candidates, is it Amanda Coetzer. Or Helena Sukova. Mary Joe Fernandez perhaps. Or Dementieva’s fellow Russian contemporary, Dinara Safina.
I’m going with Dementieva, and I feel confident that, despite still being in the prime of her career, she’s never going to win a Slam. Her overall record is a bit to the rear of Shriver’s body of work. But Pam gets marked down for disdaining the singles court at Roland Garros. She didn’t play there often and, when you think about those big old feet clomping around on clay, it’s not surprising.
Watching Dementieva on Saturday win the 544th match of her otherwise brilliant career, a come-from-behind victory over the plucky young American Melanie Oudin, was just another exercise in wonderment for me. Her ground strokes are a joy to watch — right there in a class with Serena and Venus Williams in their best moments.
Furthermore, she’s a lot more athletic than she looks at first blush and she’s a savvy, well-drilled player who not only plays the game, but understands it. The serve? Well. Ouch. She’s changed it again. It was atrocious for years and you may recall when she was dusted badly in 2004 French Open final by Anastasia Myskina, she screamed after yet another double fault: “I hate my serve.”
It got better as the years progressed, though she always looked a bit stiff — a little too mechanical. Now she’s changed again, trying to get a little more rhythm into the delivery motion, but it’s only sporadically effective. What she has done, at least for now, is cut down on the double faults — only 13 in three matches at the Paris Indoors this week.
On balance, there’s so much game there that it’s a real head-scratcher why she hasn’t won a major. The Australian Open was her 45th Grand Slam. She’s been to two finals, losing to Myskina and to Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets at the 2004 U.S. Open.
Meanwhile, there’s a litany of players who have won a major but who wouldn’t come close to matching Elena’s overall skills — Iva Majoli . . . Jana Novotna . . . Myskina . . . Barbara Jordan.
You can argue with me if you care to, but here’s my list of best ever not to win a major, in order:
1. Elena Dementieva: Career record 545-256 (68%), Grand Slam record 112-45 (71%), 16 career titles, highest ranking No. 3 (2009). Grand Slam finals: 0-2.
2. Pam Shriver: Career record 625-270 (70%), Grand Slam record 124-53 (70%), 21 career titles, highest ranking No. 3 (1984). Grand Slam finals: 0-1.
3. Mary Joe Fernandez: Career record 437-203 (68%), Grand Slam record 141-48 (75%), 7 career titles, highest ranking No. 4 (1990). Grand Slam finals: 0-3.
4. Dinara Safina: Current record 4-2, career record 340-151 (69%), Grand Slam record 65-30 (68%), 12 career titles, highest ranking No. 1 (2009). Grand Slam finals: 0-3.
5. Helena Sukova: Career record 614-307 (67%), Grand Slam record 145-51 (74%), 7 career titles, highest ranking No. 4 (1985). Grand Slam finals: 0-4.
6. Amanda Coetzer: Career record 568-337 (63%), Grand Slam record 96-56 (62%), 9 career titles, highest ranking No. 3 (1997). Grand Slam finals: 0-0.
Charles Bricker is a guest columnist for WorldTennisMagazine.com. He can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com