Casper Ruud puts the blame on himself, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas & Daniil Medvedev for failing to topple Djokovic-Nadal-Federer reign
Casper Ruud has blamed himself, along with Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Daniil Medvedev, for failing to diminish the dominance of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. His comments stem from the statistic that male players born in the 1990s have won only two Grand Slams.
In an interview with Eurosport, Ruud discussed the situation on the ATP Tour concerning the 'changing of the guard' from the Big 3 to the youngsters. In 2024, first time in 22 years neither Federer, Nadal, or Djokovic won a Grand Slam event.
Jannik Sinner won the Australian Open and the US Open while Carlos Alcaraz bagged the French Open and Wimbledon. Both Sinner and Alcaraz are players born in the 2000s. They have six Majors between them. However, players born in the 1990s have only two.
Ruud claimed that they were to blame for themselves as they could not eliminate the threat posed by the generation before them. Players born in the 1990s reached 21 finals but could win only two titles - Dominic Thiem (2020 US Open) and Daniil Medvedev (2021 US Open).
“It is clear, we cannot simply wait for things to be served, but these three greats have done very well. We have been in 21 finals and we have only won two, so it is a coincidence that there are no better numbers, but we are to blame for ourselves," Casper Ruud said.
Further, Ruud, who has been a part of three of the 21 finals, named Zverev, Tsitsipas, and Medvedev as the players who had the potential to thwart the Big 3 but they could not.
"There was a lot of talk about Zverev, Tsitsipas, and Medvedev when they emerged, that they would be responsible for a change and eliminate the greats, but they were not able to do it at all.”
Casper Ruud picks the best out of the Big 3 of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic
In this century, the ATP tour has been dominated by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. Out of the 100 men's singles Grand Slam events, the Big 3 has won 66. For 21 out of the 25 years, at least one won a Major title in the season.
However, this year, the streak from 2003 to 2023 was broken. 42-year-old Federer has now retired from the game, 38-year-old Nadal has played very few tournaments this year, while 37-year-old Djokovic could not win a Grand Slam title but managed to win the elusive Olympics gold medal.
According to Casper Ruud, Djokovic is the better of the three players.
“Djokovic is a tough nut to crack and certainly deserves to be considered the best of all time. There is no doubt about everything he has won.”
The Norwegian also stated that Djokovic has won everything there is to win in the sport and it was 'fantastic' to see him win gold in Paris.