Winning an ATP title is not guaranteed for even players who reach back-to-back Grand Slam finals.
The highest ranked WTA player never to win a title is Anna Kournikova, who was once ranked as high as world number eight.
While the ATP player who also holds this unwanted record was not ranked as high as Kournikova, he did reach two Grand Slam singles finals.
Denver Post via Getty ImagesSteve Denton: The highest ranked player in history never to win an ATP title
Steve Denton is the highest ranked player in history to never win an ATP singles title.
Denton reached a career-high ranking of world number 12 in 1983, but that was actually after his greatest career successes in singles.
In his Grand Slam main draw debut at the 1981 Australian Open, and it was a debut to be remembered for Denton.
The big-serving American went all the way to reach his first Grand Slam singles final, where he would be beaten by Johan Kriek.
After his impressive Grand Slam run, Denton would also reach ATP finals in Metz and Cincinnati, but would once again come out on the wrong side of the result.
Denton would return to the Australian Open a year later, this time as the second seed, and would reach the final once again.
In a rematch of the previous year’s final, Denton was once again beaten by Kriek to lift his fourth career runner-up trophy.
Denton would never reach a Grand Slam final again, and lost two additional finals at the tournament in Richmond to Guillermo Vilas and John McEnroe.
He would retire in 1987 as the highest ranked ATP player in history to never win a singles title, and that record remains to this day.
YearTournamentPlayer who beat Steve Denton in the final1981Australian OpenJohan Kriek1982Lorraine Open (Metz)Erick Iskersky1982Cincinnati OpenIvan Lendl1982Australian OpenJohan Kriek1983Richmond WCTGuillermo Vilas1984Richmond WCTJohn McEnroe
Although Denton never won a singles title in his career, he did win 12 doubles tournaments.
This includes Denton winning a Grand Slam title at the 1982 US Open with Kevin Curren.
Who are the highest active ranked players without an ATP title?
The best players without an ATP title has been a big topic of conversation over this past week after the events that took place at the Washington Open.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina was beaten by Alex de Minaur in the Washington Open final, with the Spaniard very emotional after having three championship points.
The world number 19 is by far the highest ranked active ATP player without a singles title, with Davidovich Fokina now losing four finals in his career.
ATP PlayerRankingFinalsAlejandro Davidovich FokinaNo.194Alex MichelsenNo.343Matteo ArnaldiNo.410Corentin MoutetNo.462Camilo Ugo CarabelliNo.470
There is 15 ranking places between Davidovich Fokina and the next highest ranked player yet to win an ATP title in Alex Michelsen.
Making up the top five in this list are Matteo Arnaldi, Corentin Moutet and Camilo Ugo Carabelli.