Some years are notable because a player no one has ever heard of makes a huge leap, and they become a household name.  2007 was that year for Novak Djokovic who reached the semis of the French and Wimbledon, almost barely noticed because of the Federer-Nadal rivalry, and then made the finals of the US Open.

2008 introduced us to Juan Martin del Potro.  He had won a few small tournaments in Europe, and while most top players were in Beijing playing the Olympics, del Potro won Los Angeles over Andy Roddick (who skipped the Olympics) and DC over Victor Troicki.  A year later, he’d win his first and only Slam, the 2009 US Open.  Gilles Simon also had a good half year, only to fade some with injuries for the next year and a half.

2009 was Robin Soderling’s year.  He had toiled in the low 20’s, a man who could hit the ball a ton, but whose mental toughness was questioned–and with good reason.

2010 had no such player.  Ernests Gulbis might have been that player, but with an injury in the French, what seemed like (finally) a chance for Gulbis to make good on the talent everyone said he had, was squelched when he got injured then went back to his losing ways.  Tomas Berdych came as close as anyone to making a big climb with a semifinals in the French and a final appearance at Wimbledon, but he too faded the rest of the year losing, as he has done historically, to nobodies, at least, relative nobodies.

For everyone else, whose aspirations of becoming great players are tempered with not enough drive, not enough mental toughness, not enough “it”,  smaller achievements are considered huge.  Let’s take a look at some players who had a great 2010 by their standards, if not by the standards that casual tennis fans that only know the top 3 players, care about.

David Ferrer. David Ferrer has been on the tour a while.  He’s quick.  He loves his inside-out forehand.  And yet, he doesn’t have enough power to overcome the best in the game.  Shortly before Indian Wells and Miami, there is a clay court season that runs through South and Central America.  While Juan Carlos Ferrero was doing great then, he met David Ferrer twice, winning once and losing once.  Ferrer won Acapulco.

Ferrer then had a great streak for him.  He reached the semis of Monte Carlo, the semis of Barcelona, the finals of Rome, and the semis of Madrid.  All this fanfare and play left him drained at the French where he lost to Jurgen Melzer in the third round.  Ferrer would also have a great post-US Open run, reaching the semis of Kuala Lumpur, the finals of Beijing, and win Valencia.  All in all, one of Ferrer’s best years.

Jurgen Melzer Melzer has been on tour as long as Federer, but his Slam performance has always been poor, for a guy that was consistently in the top 40.  Usually, a player like that will have one nice Slam, reach a quarterfinal maybe once or twice in their careers.  Not so for the lefty Austrian.

Perhaps signs were good for Melzer.  He reached the semis of Zagreb and the semis of Dubai early in the year, before he finally made a good run at a Slam reaching the semis of the French, and perhaps giving Nadal his toughest match of the tournament.  Melzer reached the fourth round of Wimbledon, the finals of Hamburg, the fourth round of the US Open, the quarters of Shanghai, and won his home tournament in Vienna.  Not as good a year as Ferrer, but still quite good.

Sam Querrey/John Isner/Mardy Fish It’s perhaps fitting that these 3 are currently ranked 18, 19, and 20 in the world, though they came here by different routes.  Sam Querrey was finally making some traction winning titles in 2009 before a freak accident in Bangkok nearly ended his career.  Querrey came back strong in 2010, but he was decidedly frustrated when Isner was a little ahead of him in the rankings and when he kept playing great in ATP 250s but had no breaktout results in either ATP 500 or Masters 1000 events.

John Isner started to play better too, winning his first title in Auckland, and reaching the finals of Memphis, Belgrade, and Atlanta.  Although he’ll be remembered for a marathon match against a little-known Frenchman, it was his performance the rest of the year that pushed him into the top 20.

Mardy Fish has had a career nearly as long as Roger Federer.  He played well about 5 years ago, but has never had a huge breakthrough.  This year, he reached the finals of Queen’s, won Newport, won Atlanta, and gave Roger Federer all he could handle in Cincinnati for the best few months of his life.  He also beat Andy Murray three times this year.  Players like Fish live for a few months of good play.  Most players not in the top 10 have to cope with periods of ups and downs and hope that they can play a few good months.  Much was mentioned of Fish’s diet where he shed 30 pounds which allowed him to move around better and train longer.

Mikhail Youzhny This one seems like a surprise, until you look at his resume.  Youzhny will forever be remembered as a guy who got so upset with himself, that he whacked himself with his racquet and unleashed a gash of blood.  But, the guy can play tennis.  Perhaps others expected Youzhny to be better than he is years ago, but 2010 was a very good year for Youzhny–a very good one, indeed.

Youzhny started off strong reaching the finals of Rotterdam and the finals of Dubai.  He reached the quarters in Miami and won Munich (on clay).  He reached the quarters of the French, the semis of the US Open (people forget this), and won Kuala Lumpur, and he made the finals at St. Petersburg.

Honorable Mentions: Richard Gasquet, Victor Troicki, Ernests Gulbis, Ivan Ljubicic

One common thread among most of this list is their age.  Almost every one is a veteran who had a good year, rather than an up-and-comer trying to break through.  Isner and Querrey are the only ones that are truly new and yet their hopes to be top ten players are somewhat dim given the lack of big enough weapons to make it there.

What will 2011 bring for players outside the top ten?  One can only wait.