Beginning of the end for the Big Four
It WILL be of little consolation to Andy Murray that he finds himself in good company when contemplating an uncertain next few months ahead. Within hours of the 30-year-old Scot issuing a surprisingly vague medical bulletin — his tournament’s end might have allowed a more full disclosure — Novak Djokovic was sitting in the same interview seat doing the same.
Both will be consulting with their medical teams about what can be done to repair themselves after what has been, by their stratospheric standards, a desperately disappointing season to date.
In fact their twin exits, and that of Rafael Nadal this week, has given men’s tennis a slightly alarming look at the future.
In the last match to finish yesterday, a 35-year-old Swiss stood as the last line of defence between Wimbledon and a men’s semi-final quartet long on inches and short on charisma.
Fortunately, Roger Federer came to the rescue, sparing us from a final four of very tall, powerful baseliners who play largely the same way. Neither Murray nor Djokovic could be sure when they will play again, but long breaks or even some form of surgery might be in order to prolong their careers into their thirties.
If they do take time out then it will mean that the ‘Big Four’, who have carried the men’s game to such great heights in the past 10 years, will all have been obliged to take long breaks in the past 12 months.
Federer skipped the clay season altogether and missed the whole second half of last season, while Nadal was absent for large chunks of it and packed up in October.
It seems that breaking point for the biggest stars, ageing as they are, is coming close. Murray and Djokovic have still not recovered from the enormous efforts to reach their peaks last season. In Murray’s case he will need to consider that this is the fourth Grand Slam tournament in succession that he did not enter in his best condition, and the chances are running out for him to add to his tally of three major titles.
At last year’s US Open he was short of gas in his quarter-final against Kei Nishikori, although that was partly a consequence of winning Wimbledon and the Olympics.
In Melbourne in January he got his scheduling hopelessly wrong, taking too short an off-season and then arriving in Australia too late, after making a lucrative appearance in chilly Qatar. His build-up to the French Open was chaotic, and he did outstandingly well to drive himself to the semi-final, in which he was close to beating Stan Wawrinka. On the grass he bombed at Queen’s and then suffered the onset of whatever this hip problem exactly is, falling short yesterday watched by concerned coach Ivan Lendl (below). At 30 years old, born a week apart, it is possible that we have simply seen the best of what he and Djokovic have to offer. Both of them play in a different style to the free-flowing Federer, running hard and grinding out the wins without the benefit of excessive power games. What they have done would sap anyone’s body and soul, even these two remarkable, driven individuals. Djokovic became the 10th player to pull out mid-match through injury in this tournament, and Murray had not looked far off making it 11. It has become a tour for grinders, all year round with little variation in court speeds to develop different styles of player. You wish Murray and Djokovic good health — and two more years of being competitive.