Djokovic, Nadal and Federer: The triumvirate that has no equal
The Big 3.
If you are an avid follower of the sport of tennis, I don’t even need to explain who they are. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic - the terrific triumvirate has been ruling the tennis world with disdain for well over a decade now. It has sort of become like an oligopoly, where these 3 icons almost sweep the Grand Slams year after year with stunning regularity.
Let us now sink in the numbers to understand the extent of their domination. Out of the last 40 Grand Slams over the last decade, as many as 33 of them have been won by either Nadal, Federer or Djokovic. Let us dig into the numbers even further. Let us start with the Australian Open. In the last 10 years, nine out the 10 Grand Slams have been won by either Djokovic or Federer. While the relentless Serb has captured the Australian Open title 6 times, the mesmerising Federer has triumphed thrice at the Australian Open this decade. This has essentially been a 2-man show, with the others being reduced to just spectators.
Out of the last 10 French Open Grand Slams, 8 of them have been won by one man - Rafael Nadal. Nadal has been the undisputed king of clay, with no man even nearing him on his favourite surface.
Let us now move to Wimbledon. Out of the last 10 Wimbledon Championships, 8 of them have been won by either Djokovic, Nadal or Federer. Djokovic has won Wimbledon 5 times in this decade, Federer twice and Nadal once. Now let us move to the final Grand Slam, the US Open. Again, out of the last 10 US Open Grand Slams, as many as seven of them have been won by either Djokovic or Nadal. While Djokovic has emerged champion thrice, Nadal has captured the US Open title 4 times in the last 10 years.
And, what is even more stunning is, the 3 of them have swept every single Grand Slam between them in the last 3 years. While Federer has added 3 more to his glittering collection to extend his Grand Slam tally to 20, Djokovic and Nadal have won 4 and 5 respectively. And this trend looks to continue even in 2020.
Federer is 38, an age where it almost inconceivable for us to imagine a man playing top flight tennis. He is still a major contender for Grand Slams, especially Wimbledon. Djokovic has rediscovered his mojo and is once again the man to beat going into 2020. Nadal has been relentless on clay, and continues to challenge for the trophy at the US Open.
Tennis has never seen such a trio domination - with stunning regularity and for such a long period of time. Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have swatted aside competition with nonchalance and have continued on their merry march to the summit with ease. Check this out. There has not been a single man who has beaten all 3 of them in the same Grand Slam this decade.
This has been an ethereal period for men's tennis and their domination looks likely to continue in the coming years as well. For these are 3 extremely gifted athletes who have matched talent with effort and have given tennis aficionados undoubtedly the most glorious era of the sport.
And most importantly, it is an era that is not over yet.