We Know The “Best” But Who Is The “Worst” Player In The World?

By Scoop Malinowski

While it’s easy to calculate who is the world’s best player right now and it’s so evident we don’t even have to name him, how about the converse? Who is the world’s worst player?

There are millions of players all over the planet but I think I may have actually found out who is the worst player. He plays in a web site league in northern New Jersey. He shall remain nameless for obvious reasons.

I discovered this player by chance after playing a match for the league against an opponent who billed himself as a 4.5 level competitor who had recently moved to the area from Boston. I defeated this 4.5 player and was curious to see his previous results and I saw on the web site that he won his only other match 60 60 vs. a player I never noticed.

Then looking up that player’s results, it turned out to be an extraordinary discovery. “Chris” had a match record of 0-31 in 2026 and also he was 1-36 in 2025. That totals to a disastrous 1-67 over two years. Yet “Chris” keeps on playing and playing despite always losing. Some players get upset after losing one match. Heck, I even read that Butch Seewagen cried after being broken in the first game of a practice match versus Gene Scott! Yes it was said in a published anecdote, Seewagen cried between games. Seewagen was an adult at the time!

“Chris” did score one victory 62 62 vs. another player which was avenged in a rematch the next year by a similar score.

I had an urge to meet “Chris” and play him even though our levels are disparate. I wanted to meet someone who played tennis despite such an abysmal record. Does he love the game that much? Why can’t he win? Maybe he prefers to lose?

So we set up a match which was canceled by him because it was 100 degrees that day. We played a week later at the nice courts at Demarest Nature Center on a late Sunday afternoon and it was about 90 degrees that day.

I played “Chris” lefty to work on my balance and lefty skills and won 61 50 when he retired due to the heat. “Chris” is a gentleman, friendly before, during and after play. He loves to chat and try his best. But being a little overweight his movement is just average and his running shots tend to go astray. He uses an older Babolat Pure Strike racquet. He said he’s between jobs and also plays indoors with a group of Friday nights.

He’s a wonderful guy who probably has trouble finding people who want to play with him because of his low level and inconsistency so the web site league is a perfect way to find regular matches with different players every week. Tennis can be hard for weaker players because everybody wants to be challenged and get better. Playing “Chris” you don’t get that because he can only play a two or three ball rally before going for the high risk winner or mishitting the unforced error.

Yes “Chris” is a bad player with an awful record but he’s a wonderful likable friendly guy with good spirit and enthusiasm. He’s bad at playing successful tennis but he keeps trying anyway. He has nice strokes but movement is the issue. Total respect for what he represents.

When I told “Chris” after that I played lefty to work on my balance and lefty skills and to relive that feeling of being a beginner again, he was not offended in the least. The experience helped me too because I hit quite a few surprising forehand winners and did not have one double fault with a lefty serve which is a difficult shot to make. I once saw Max Mirnyi hitting lefty serves in practice at Delray Beach and asked him why he was doing it and he responded that he feels it helps his normal righty serve.

1-67 is an awful record. But there’s only one way he can go from there and that’s up. Wishing “Chris” the best with his tennis future.

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