Looking back at the Big 3's dominance of the Grand Slams in the decade that was 2010-2019
The Big 3 of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are called so because they have dominated the biggest tournaments in the sport like very few other players in history have.
The trio's Grand Slam title hauls of 20, 19, and 16 respectively are the three highest of all time. Moreover, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are the only players in the Open Era apart from Rod Laver and Andre Agassi to win the career Grand Slam - the feat of winning each of the four Grand Slam titles at least once.
With the exception of Djokovic at the French Open (4), the trio has reached 5 or more finals at every Major. One of the Big 3 members is the outright or joint-title leader at each of the Grand Slam tournaments - Djokovic (7), Nadal (12) and Federer (8) are the outright title leaders at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon respectively, while Federer shares the US Open title lead with Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors (5 apiece).
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The Big 3's stranglehold on the Grand Slams during the decade that was 2010 to 2019 was such that the trio cumulatively scooped up 33 of the 40 titles on offer during the period. Andy Murray (2/3), Stanislas Wawrinka (3/3) and Marin Cilic (1/1) - the only other men to win Grand Slam titles during the decade - have won all but one title (2016 Wimbledon) at the expense of a Big 3 member.
On that note, let us look back at the trio's haul of Grand Slam titles during the decade.
#3 Roger Federer - 5 titles from 10 finals
Federer was 29 when the decade rolled in. The Swiss maestro's win at the first Grand Slam event of the decade - the 2010 Australian Open - swelled his Grand Slam title tally to 16, which at the time was 10 and 15 clear of Nadal and Djokovic respectively.
Following Federer's defeat in the US Open 2019 quarterfinals, along with Nadal surviving a fierce Daniil Medvedev onslaught to win his 4th title in New York, Federer's lead over Nadal dipped to just 1.
In the intervening period, Federer equaled Sampras' record of 7 Wimbledon titles in 2012 and claimed the outright lead at the grasscourt Major in 2017. He twice came within a swing of his racquet away from claiming a record-extending 9th title, before losing to Novak Djokovic in a historic first-ever Wimbledon fifth set tiebreak.
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Federer won his first Australian Open title in 7 years and his first Grand Slam match against Nadal in over a decade when he overcame a break deficit in the fifth set of the 2017 final. A year later, Federer successfully defended his title Down Under with a five-set win over Marin Cilic.
Despite suffering the majority (31) of his 58 Grand Slam defeats during this decade, Federer's tally of 169 Grand Slam match wins during this period is only dwarfed by his two fellow Big 3 members.