"Every year we asked ourselves how long Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer & Rafael Nadal would keep winning everything" - Diego Schwartzman
Diego Schwartzman recently gave his thoughts on the dominance of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Schwartzman believes a change of guard is imminent, even though Djokovic is still operating close to his best.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been struggling with injuries for a very long time, due to which neither player managed to do much damage at the Slams in 2021. Novak Djokovic, on the other hand, won three of the four Majors on offer, and at one point was one win away from completing the Calendar Slam.
Daniil Medvedev eventually stopped the World No. 1 in his tracks at the US Open, winning his first Grand Slam in the process.
Against that background, Diego Schwartzman recently claimed it is "logical" for the dominance of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer to end sooner or later. At the same time, the 29-year-old believes it was "illogical" how long the Big 3 kept winning everything.
"It could be and it is logical that it will happen (end of the dominance of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal)," Schwartzman said while speaking to the media ahead of Argentina's Davis Cup tie against Belarus. "Perhaps the illogical thing was that every year we asked ourselves how long they were going to keep on winning everything."
Diego Schwartzman went on to acknowledge that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were plagued by injuries in 2021 even as Novak Djokovic showed no signs of stopping. Shwartzman further asserted that the Big 3 are still the best in business when fit.
"Perhaps this year and a half both Rafa and Roger had some injuries," Schwartzman said. "Djokovic continues at a very high level and everyone continues being legends who do it in the best way and if they are physically well they are still the best."
Schwartzman then mentioned Next Gen stars Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev, pointing out how they are steadily improving their level to challenge the Big 3.
"Afterwards, I think there are many very good players from a very young age, such as Rublev, Tsitsipas or Zverev, who took a while to mature in order to make that change, " he said.
A look at Diego Schwartzman's record against Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal
Despite having a serve that rarely wins him any free points, Diego Schwartzman is widely regarded as one of the finest players on tour. Schwartzman more than makes up for his short height and subpar serve by using his smooth groundstrokes and footwork to good effect.
However, none of those attributes have helped him much against Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The Argentine has faced the 'Big 3' 22 times combined and has faced defeat on 21 occasions.
Schwartzman has a 0-6 win-loss record against Djokovic, a 0-4 record against Federer and a 1-11 record against Nadal.
The 29-year-old's only win against Nadal came at the 2020 Italian Open, where he beat the Mallorcan in straight sets.