Nadal hoping to avoid Bjorg's list | Thebigtip

The US Open is fast approaching and world number 1 Rafael Nadal has one target in his sights; a career Gand Slam.

After victory in Melbourne at the Australian Open in January this year, the US championship at Flushing Meadows remains the only Slam not in the Spainard's trophy cabinet.

In the opinion of many, fans and experts alike, the US Open is probably the toughest of the Grand Slam tournaments to win.  The surface is unforgiving and the weather can be hot and humid in New York in early September.  The crowd atmosphere is often raucous and many night matches finish in the early hours of the morning.

The most difficult thing for the players can be the schedule. The men's semifinals take place on the second Saturday and the final the following day.  Depending on how the semis turn out, one of the finalists can have less than 24 hours to prepare for the final.

Although these factors make it a tough tournament to win, we would expect Nadal to eventually win a US Open crown. But will it be in 2010?

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But who are the best players in history to have missed out in the US?

Bjorn Borg

Probably the most famous player never to win the US Open, Bjorn actually got to the final four times, losing to Jimmy Connors in 1976 and 1978, and then John McEnroe in 1980 and 1981.  Bjorn took McEnroe to five sets in 1980, the closest he got to winning the tournament.  It was a pretty good effort to get to four finals, and perhaps unlucky to get two home players there.  Bjorn lost the 1976 final to Jimmy Connors on green clay, and then the others on hard court. Although only speculation, it'sbeeen said that Bjorn was not a big fan of the hard courts or playing under the lights at the US Open.

Jim Courier

Jim won four Grand Slam titles in his career and played in all four Grand Slam finals from 1991 to 1993.  Jim’s best surface was probably hard courts, but he won two titles at the French Open on clay and two titles at the Australian Open on rebound aces.  The slower, high-bouncing rebound ace suited Jim’s game and he defeated Edberg in two finals there in 1992 and 1993, each time in four sets.

Jim lost to Edberg in the 1991 US Open final in straight sets, as Edberg played the best match of his career that day.  Jim also lost to Pete Sampras in the semifinals of the US Open in 1992 and 1995, each time in four sets.   Jim didn’t particularly have any weakness on hard courts, but his biggest downfall was probably his relative lack of movement on the surface even though it was considered a medium-fast surface, certainly not as fast as it is now since Arthur Ashe Stadium Court opened in 1997.

That relative lack of movement meant that Jim was more vulnerable against the very top players.  Jim’s extreme grips also made him more vulnerable as the best players targeted his forehand on return of serve to open up the court often to take advantage of his relative lack of movement.  So in the end, the high-bouncing rebound ace courts suited Jim more than the medium-fast courts of the US Open where kick serves are very effective but the ball shoots through more during rallies.

Jennifer Capriati

Winning the US Open was sort of a holy grail for Jennifer, as it was her hometown tournament in many ways.  Unfortunately for Jennifer, she never got past the semifinals, but those semis were very memorable!

Jennifer lost an incredible semifinal to Monica Seles in 1991 in a third set tiebreak which at that time represented the future of women's tennis, with both players hitting the ball like there was no tomorrow.  Jennifer served for the match twice but still lost.  After an absence of 10 years, Jennifer came back strongly in 2001 and appeared in the semifinals again, this time losing a highly-charged match to Venus Williams.

In 2003 Jennifer lost yet another dramatic semifinal. This time to Justine Henin who seemed absolutely out on her feet in the third set with Jennifer again serving for the match twice, only to ultimately lose a third set tiebreak.

To cap it all off, Jennifer lost again in 2004, this time to Elena Dementieva in a third set tiebreak.  Jennifer served for the match but couldn’t finish it off.  This match was especially frustrating for Jennifer as Elena was going through one of her can’t serve properly modes, but somehow came out on the other side with a win!

Even though Jennifer never got to a US Open final, her semifinals will be talked about for decades.