It has been apparent for the last 12 months and more, but it is now assuredly wedged into lawn tennis history that the old order of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novac Djokovic and Andy Murray has passed from the present into the past of tennis lore.
Djokovic, the last of the quartet still on the courts, has not been able to win one of the Grand Slam Tournaments since his US Open victory of August 2023. And while he has been into the semifinals of the slams, even finals, he has been severely and convincingly trounced by the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
The destruction last Friday of the Serbian at Wimbledon, considered to be the most prestigious of the Grand Slams, was comprehensive. At the end of the straight sets loss to Sinner, Djokovic admitted that his physical frame can no longer go the distance with the top two players of the contemporary period. Sinner went on to win yesterday’s Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz in a four-set thriller.
We cannot, however, wipe the great quartet of the 2000 period off the map of tennis history. They have won 66 of the 84 Grand Slam tournaments in which they competed over the period of early 2000 to the present. It’s without doubt the greatest run of both dominance and arguably that of quality tennis displayed on the courts.
What also remains fascinating about the four is that they were so different in styles. Djokovic, on the hard surfaces of Australia and the US Open, was dominant with his power game of groundstrokes, return of serves and endurance.
Federer, the undoubted master of grass with his smooth and silky all-round game, including the ability to serve and volley, won a collective 20 Grand Slam titles on all surfaces.
Nadal has been the unchallenged “King of Clay,” winning an unprecedented 14 of the Roland Garros tournaments in Paris. His big spinning serves and a ripping inside-out cross-court forehand, which must surely rank as one of the great single shots of the game, and an unrelenting attitude on the courts made him near invincible on the red clay.
Murray, whose standard did not reach up to his three compatriots, won two Grand Slams tournaments on his home courts of Wimbledon. It can be pointed out, however, that his many injuries accumulated over the period restricted his play.
Harking back to the start of the era of full-time professional tennis in the 1960s, John McEnroe, who preceded the Big Four by a couple decades, along with the likes of Bjorn Borg and the big serving American “Pistol Pete” Sampras, thought he had to make the point of the greatness of Rod Laver of the 1960s.
The record shows that Laver is the only player since the 1930s to have won the Grand Slam - all four major titles in one year.
Into the present, the Italian Sinner and the Spaniard Alcaraz have won the last seven Grand Slam tournaments and are set on creating their own record to counter that of the big four of the last couple decades.
The challenge they present is a formidable one for their contemporaries. What’s daunting for the others is that it’s clear that Sinner and Alcaraz, ages 22 and 23, respectively, have not yet reached their peak potential.
