Males’s tennis is sitting fairly properly now. It was almost twenty years in the past.
It was a cheerful, steady saga that produced fan gratification, attracted worldwide affection, numerous excessive stakes matches, drama to the best diploma, and maybe the best high quality of tennis ever performed within the historical past of a males’s sport.
Welcome to the adventures of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer: the financial savings blessings of males’s tennis and the last word needle movers.
It is no shock to anybody who’s adopted tennis for fairly a while however these three present legends have carried their sport in a manner no sportsman or athlete has since Tiger Woods within the late Nineties and Serena Williams in each the 2000s and 2000s. . .
They’ve had that stage of a stifling grip on the game. No statistics present that greater than this.
Since 2004, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have mixed to win 61 out of 73 titles on the final Grand Slam. You’ll be able to divide their triple rivalry into three distinct intervals the place they, in unison, had full management of males’s tennis.
From the 2005 French Open to Wimbledon 2009, all three have gained 18 consecutive Grand Slams, with Federer (11) and Nadal (6) holding the highest champions in comparison with Djokovic. From 2010 to 2014, the three gained 16 of the 20 main championships (Nadal 8, Djokovic 6, Federer 2), together with 11 consecutive titles in a single interval. From 2015 to the current, the trio have gone on to win 24 of 29 main tournaments (Djokovic 13, Nadal 8, Federer 3), which additionally included a streak of 14 consecutive championships gained.
Not solely have they imposed their will on the remainder of the courtroom for therefore lengthy, however the stark truth is that the ATP Tour relied closely on them to be the faces of males’s tennis.
What occurs when the ‘Massive Three’ disappears?
What’s to be gained in males’s tennis when arguably the three best gamers of all time but in addition the game’s three best stars are out of the sport for good?
I do know it is exhausting to think about such a factor once we’re all having fun with the journey, however the finish is nearer than we would understand. In actual fact, it is approaching quick.
For Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam winner (the primary males’s participant in historical past to win 20 slams) is actually one foot into retirement. The most important hitter in males’s tennis historical past for most individuals, he’ll flip 40 in August and hasn’t performed since dropping within the Wimbledon quarter-finals final July. Two knee surgical procedures prior to now two years have saved him off the sector, together with his situation up within the air as to when, if he does, he’ll compete once more.
At this level in Federer’s profession, he is 9 males behind, and his possibilities of profitable one other Grand Slam appear slim.
The person standing as captain of the lads’s Grand Slam at age 22 is Nadal, who earlier this month gained his 14th title on the French Open at Roland Garros. What made it much more spectacular wasn’t the Spaniard’s clay-court victory – confirming his dominance in a manner no athlete has ever seen in a single sporting occasion – however the persistent accidents he handled earlier than reaching this yr’s second grand slam raised considerations about whether or not match to play.
Nadal has all the time struggled with accidents throughout his physique, however when it was reported on March 22 that he can be out for 4 to 6 weeks with a damaged rib, lacking the French Open was a critical matter. After profitable the Main, Nadal revealed that he had been affected by persistent foot ache all through the match and mentioned:I haven’t got any emotions on my ft. “
The 36-year-old admitted that he has no concept how lengthy he shall be enjoying as a result of put on and tear that has constructed up in his physique through the years. Whereas Nadal continues to be enjoying at a excessive stage, the bodily burden he has positioned on his physique could drive him to droop him for good, sooner slightly than later.
Alternatively, Djokovic is clearly the most recent and least injured out of the three in the meanwhile. When you needed to guess on somebody who’s more likely to play not less than 5 extra years on the tour, the Serbian would undoubtedly be the selection. With 20 main trophies to his title, the game’s best returnee continues to be in the perfect place to retire with extra slams than Federer and Nadal, on condition that no participant right this moment can match the 35-year-old’s stamina, toughness and bodily endurance. The longer the match.
The one main impediment for Djokovic is the reality Himself.
So, in terms of how males’s tennis will carry out when Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are gone for good, there’s actually no convincing strategy to reply that.
why? As a result of there isn’t any worthy successor within the current place.
When you study the historical past of {most professional} staff sports activities or particular person sports activities, normally in every period there may be one athlete, or generally two or three, that stands out and defines that particular time interval. And after they retire or retire, the sport passes to the subsequent era and so forth, leaving the sport in good palms.
There are examples of this.
In NBA historical past, it began with George Mikan within the Fifties, then moved on to Wilt Chamberlain and Invoice Russell within the Sixties, to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar within the Seventies, to Magic Johnson and Larry Fowl within the Nineteen Eighties, to Michael Jordan within the Nineties, to Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Shaquille O’Neal within the 2000s, to LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant within the 2000s.
We noticed it in boxing.
We went from the Sugar Ray Robinson period of the Nineteen Forties/50s, to the Muhammad Ali period of the Sixties/70s, to the Marvin Hagler-Sugar Ray Leonard-Roberto Duran-Tommy Hearns “4 Kings” period within the late ’70s/80s, to the period of Mike Tyson-Julio Caesar Chavez-Pernell Whitaker-Roy Jones Jr-Oscar De La Hoya within the late ’80s and ’90s, to the reign of Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. within the twenty first century, now the place the primary fighters are Canelo Alvarez, Naoya Eno, Vasily Lomachenko , Terence Crawford, Errol Spence Jr and Oleksandr Usek.
It has been utilized within the historical past of ladies’s and males’s tennis as properly.
There was Margaret Courtroom within the ’60s. Then Billie Jean King and Chris Evert within the ’70s. Then Everett and Martina Navratilova within the 80s. Then Steffi Graf and Monica Seles within the ’90s. Then the Williams sisters within the 2000s and Serena within the twenties.
Rod Laver was the person within the Sixties. Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg led the way in which within the Seventies. John McEnroe, Evan Lendl, Borg, and Connors introduced males’s tennis to new heights within the ’80s. Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi had been advancing American tennis within the ’90s. And as we all know, Nadal, Federer and Djokovic have had a direct chokehold on sports activities within the twenty first century.
Which participant or gamers will take over after the Massive Three?
Who would be the face of males’s tennis within the decade of 2020?
Truthfully, I do not see anybody there.
(BTW: Girls’s tennis has the identical downside and it is a lot worse. The WTA lacks the star energy and high quality that Serena, Venus, and Maria Sharapova delivered to the desk, in addition to a dearth of participant competitors, convincing matches, and inconsistency that plagued the highest ten.) -15 gamers per week, with minimal protection by sports activities media and networks, and most significantly fan curiosity, this sport is in bother. I will most likely contact on that in one other column.)
I imply do not get me mistaken, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniel Medvedev, Dominic Thiem, Matteo Berrettini and Carlos Alcaraz are all of their twenties (Alcaraz is nineteen) and put up a stiff competitors for the large three within the final pair. Years, they reached the finals of the Grand Slam (Tsitsipas, Berrettini) and will name themselves Grand Slam champions (Tim, Medvedev), however none of them, thus far, have managed to interrupt by means of and shut the hole.
With Federer enjoying much less and fewer, Djokovic and Nadal nonetheless topped the group, as they each mixed to win the final 5 ATP Participant of the Yr awards (Djokovic 3, Nadal 2).
Take European soccer now.
Each Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been dominating the world of soccer – on and off the sector – for greater than a decade with followers and media alike utterly targeted on their duopoly. Nevertheless, the game is healthier outfitted to beat the 2 once they transfer away or start to say no – which they every steadily have – as a result of presence of so many stars and footballers already distinguished, led by Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Badri. . European soccer shall be in good palms.
Tennis will not be a lot.
Maybe it’s unrealistic to put excessive expectations on the youthful era. A few of these gamers could dominate in intervals and play exceptionally properly in sure intervals, however it’s about sustaining that prime stage, which would be the largest problem. What distinguishes the achievements of the Massive Three is their longevity and time on the prime.
The formidable downside for present and future gamers isn’t just breaking or equalizing the three information however convincing us that they’re higher, however extra realistically, worthy of our consideration.
Who’s going to kick the three goats off their perch and take the torch when it comes to bust, fanfare, respectability, marketability, field workplace attraction, world recognition, world enchantment, viewing expertise, and most significantly, maintaining the game related?
Fairly merely, males’s tennis has an enormous void that must be crammed after the large three. The journey was wonderful however all good issues should come to an finish.
This is not going to be completely different.
Twitter: @JamesSimpsonII