Statisfaction: Players Still Searching for Top 10 Wins

Top ten wins are always hard to come by on the ATP Tour. Look no further than Ryan Harrison's 0-16 record if you want proof.

By Chris Oddo

(February 21, 2013) -- A couple of up-and-coming players nearly pulled attention-grabbing upsets in Marseille today, but in the end experience (oh, and talent) won out.

It's no surprise, as young players who are just starting to make their way up the ATP rankings often lack the physicality and the mental toughness to win against the elite players in the top ten. Often times they get tantalizingly close, but it is those tantalizingly close matches that are the domain of the more experienced, more mentally tough players in the top 10.

Case in point: Bernard Tomic failed to convert his five match point opportunities against World No. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga during their third-set tiebreaker at the Open 13 quarterfinals in Marseille, and eventually the Frenchman prevailed, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(10). With the heartbreaking defeat, Tomic's record against the ATP's top ten drops to 2-13.

Case in point, part deux: Jerzy Janowicz found himself in a heated battle with World No. 6 Tomas Berdych, but he too fell short as the more composed and accomplished Berdych casually broke his serve in the next to last game and then served him out with ease.

Janowicz, who currently owns a 2-3 record against the top ten, has fared quite well against the ATP's top ten, albeit with a relatively small sample size, while Tomic, phenom that he is, has fared pretty poorly.

But the 20-year-old Australian, with his two career wins against the top ten (one against Mardy Fish in 2011 and the other against Robin Soderling at Wimbledon, also in 2011), can be thankful that he isn't included in the group below.

Active ATP Players without a Top Ten Win

Player	Record vs. Top 10	Odds of Ever Getting Top 10 Win
Sergiy Stakhovsky	0-19	Slimmer than a Slim Jim
Ryan Harrison	0-16	May have to wait until his brother Christian reaches the top 10
Lukas Lacko	0-13	We think he has it in him
Go Soeda	0-10	See Stakhovsky's odds
Benoit Paire	0-8	Can see him beating Gasquet, but can Gasquet stay at No. 10?
David Goffin	0-6	He's destined to lose ten more, then maybe...

Since we're on the subject, here's a really interesting fact: Did you know that Roger Federer leads all active ATP Players in losses against the top ten? Crazy as it sounds, it's true. He's lost 83 matches against the top ten. What a slacker. But Fed fans, before you start sending us death threats, keep in mind that Federer also leads the ATP in wins against the top ten with 162. No other active player has won 100.

Here are some other players who've struggled mightily against the top ten:

Active ATP Players with horrible top ten records:

Grigor Dimitrov, 1-16
Viktor Troicki, 3-44
Denis Istomin, 1-15
Andreas Seppi, 6-51

(Photo Credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve)