Djokovic still stands in way of tennis’ next generation
The eventual retirements of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, at some point followed by that of Novak Djokovic, will represent the loss of once-in-a-generation talents and contenders for a claim as the greatest player in men’s tennis history.
It also will represent the loss of rivalries that have driven global interest in the sport these past 15 years and forced each to raise his game.
The upshot is the current unprecedented moment, with all three tied for a men’s record 20 Grand Slam singles titles.
A partial glimpse of what may follow this golden era will be on display at the U.S. Open, which gets underway Monday without Federer, 40, or Nadal, 35, who both announced they won’t compete again in 2021 to address lingering injuries.
Djokovic, 34, the world’s No. 1 player and top seed, is favoured to break the tie by winning his fourth U.S. Open. Given his exceptional fitness, he may have years remaining to extend the men’s record.
But whenever his dominance wanes, as has that of ninth-ranked Federer and fifth-ranked Nadal in recent years, men’s tennis won’t simply be seeking the next great player to fill the void. It will be seeking a next great rivalry to captivate hardcore fans spoiled by the Big Three era and attract casual viewers alike.
“Rivalries are the lungs of the sport; they make matches breathe,” broadcaster Mary Carillo, a former pro and tennis analyst, said in an email. “Especially when the rivals have different games, different temperaments, use different hands, play from different parts of the court, come from different backgrounds.”
The contrasts are often accentuated by the game’s different surfaces — grass, clay, hard court, indoor court, outdoor court — with each surface a third protagonist in the drama.
Nadal has been the master of clay, with his 13 French Open titles; Federer has been the maestro on grass, with his eight Wimbledon titles; and Djokovic has been the most lethal on a hard court, with his 12 Australian and U.S. Open titles.
Men’s tennis has had the good fortune of great rivalries dating back several decades, tennis historian Steve Flink said.
Before Federer-nadal’s 40 matches (Nadal leads 24-16); Federer-djokovic’s 50 (Djokovic leads 27-23) and Djokovic-nadal’s 58 (Djokovic leads 30-28), Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi faced off 34 times between 1989 and 2002, with Sampras holding the 20-14 edge.
“That was the greatest American generation,” Flink said, “and Sampras and Agassi carried the ’90s — two Americans with different styles and personalities and constituencies. All of that was so great for the game; people looked forward to the battles.”
Before that, John Mcenroe and Jimmy Connors waged a contentious 34-match series sparked by palpable dislike and starkly different styles.
Among the Big Three, each permutation not only has delivered exceptional matches, it has made each of them better.
The challenge that Nadal presented is what convinced Federer to change the most fundamental aspect of his game: his racket. He switched from a 90-square-inch to a 97-square-inch one in 2014 after resisting the move for years, Christopher Clarey details in his book The Master: The Long Run and Beautiful Game of Roger Federer.
“It was an attempt to improve his ability to handle on the backhand side the topspin of Nadal and to be able to deal with his serves with a bigger surface area on the return and fewer off-centre hits, which he had a problem with,” said Clarey, a veteran New York Times sports reporter. Federer also honed a forehand drop shot to bedevil Nadal, a shot he had previously given scant attention.
Nadal, in turn, retooled his clay-court tactics to topple then top-ranked Federer at Wimbledon in a five-set thriller in 2008, revamping his footwork, playing more inside the baseline and bolstering his serve.
“He was trying to find a way to not be on the chase and be more aggressive,” Clarey noted.
But enmity has not been part of the Big Three’s rivalries.
On the contrary, each has credited the others for his own success while taking turns giving speeches as victor and runner-up at one Grand Slam after another.
“They are, I think, the reason that I am where I am today,” Djokovic said of Federer and Nadal upon winning his sixth Wimbledon and 20th major in July. “They’ve helped me realize what I need to do in order to improve, to get stronger mentally and physically, tactically.”
In Flink’s view, Chris Evert-martina Navratilova remains the greatest tennis rivalry, contested over 80 matches and spiced by stark contrasts: baseliner versus serve-and-volley; righty versus lefty; composed versus often combustible. Like the Big Three, Evert and Navratilova pushed each other.
“It’s easy to point to how much Chrissie’s game moved Martina to get more professional in every way, and how Chrissie then had to play catch-up to Navratilova,” Carillo noted.
They retired with 18 Grand Slam singles titles each and Navratilova holding a 43-37 career edge.
Women’s tennis hasn’t enjoyed anything comparable since.
Steffi Graf and Monica Seles proved brilliant counterparts but played just 15 matches between 1989 and 1999, with Graf winning 10. When that ended, Carillo recalls looking forward to a decade of tussles between Serena Williams and Justine Henin, among the few who didn’t cower from Williams’ power, but Henin retired before their rivalry took off.
Since then, Williams has been the standard others have chased over a 24-year pro career in which she has won an Open-era record 23 majors.
But she hasn’t won a major since she returned from maternity leave in March 2018, although she has reached four Grand Slam finals. Like Federer and Nadal, she won’t compete at this year’s U.S. Open because of a lingering injury.
Williams will be 40 by the time she contests her next major, raising similar questions for women’s tennis: Who will be the next dominant player? Who will form the next great women’s rivalry?
“Her remarkable reign could truly be over,” Carillo said of Williams.
So Carillo is shifting her analyst’s eye and personal hope for a next enduring women’s rivalry. She suspects it may come from fourtime Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, 23, and Coco Gauff, 17, with 2021 Wimbledon champion Ashleigh Barty potentially in the mix.
On the men’s side, Flink hopes a compelling rivalry is brewing between thirdranked Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev of Germany, with Russia’s secondranked Daniil Medvedev in the mix.
None have won a major. But each plays a distinct brand of tennis: Zverev, so powerful from the baseline; Tsitsipas, with an elegant one-handed backhand and zest for net play; and Medvedev, a tireless tactician. And there has been some smack and allegations of gamesmanship in their matches.
“They’re all on the cusp of it,” Flink said. “But whether we’re going to get anything on the level of a 58-match series like Djokovic or Nadal or Roger and Rafa playing 50 times, I don’t know.”
Carillo is sure; it is impossible.
“There will never be another rivalry like Federer, Nadal, Djokovic,” she insisted. “The three best players of all time, playing at the same time, for this long? That was magical.”