I hope that even the peripheral tennis fan can appreciate what we are witnessing from the men’s “Big Three” of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic.
Why? Because they just may be the best threesome of athletes to overlap one another during their prime in any one sport, EVER!
When I say best three, I mean three athletes whom all have a legitimate G.O.A.T. claim.
Think about it for a bit: in baseball we had Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, and later Ken Griffey Jr and Barry Bonds, but it is hard to find a 3rd peer.
In basketball we had Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird. For all of their ambassadorship and marketing of the game, neither Magic nor Bird have a valid claim.
In football we had Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees. But is there really a good argument to put either Manning or Brees over Joe Montana?
When talking about Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, it’s hard to find “buts” to either’s claim beyond one of the other two.
No disrespect to Rod Laver, who won a calendar year grand slam in both 1962 and 1969.
All of the Big 3 have won the career grand slam.
Bjorn Borg’s capacity to go from clay to grass, winning the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year, 3 straight years, is the second hardest thing to do in tennis, behind the calendar year Grand Slam. But he never won a hard-court major.
We almost never talk about Pete Sampras and his 14 major titles. But he never won the French Open.
Other than the calendar year Grand Slam, there is nothing all 3 members of this group have not done.
How dominant have they been?
- They have won 50 of the past 58 major titles.
- They have all 3 made the final four of a major 12 times in 13 years. In six different years, all three made it to the final four of all the majors. If not for injuries, especially to Djokovic and Nadal, it would likely have been more.
- The major title count to date is Federer with 20, Nadal with 18, and Djokovic with 16. They are ranked in reverse 1, 2, and 3 in the world.
Tennis’ Big Three has been to Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych, and David Ferrer, what Michael Jordan was to John Stockton, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, and Patrick Ewing.
While Federer is clearly a lion in the winter, he is still formidable. He played his A game in last Sunday’s Wimbledon final and was still not able to beat Djokovic on his B game.
The only frustrating thing about the Big Three is identifying heirs to their throne. They are all over 30 and can’t go on forever. So, who in the hell is next?
Three have the game but all have glaring flaws:
Alexander Zverev has all the tools but just seems uninterested at times and has even all but admitted as much.
Stefanos Tsitsipas also has the game but lacks experience.
And then of course there is the mercurial Nick Kyrgios, who blatantly admits that he does not train. Even with that, his record against Nadal and Djokovic is 5-4. The guy has never lost to Novak Djokovic.
On the women’s side, we Serena fans are going to have to prepare ourselves for the possibility that she may never win another major.
It’s not a question of capacity. When her serve is right, she still beats every other player. The problem is that increasingly the serve is not right and her “B” game is no longer good enough to survive the unforced errors and beat upper echelon players, as it once was. There are times when I cannot get the image of Mays, Manning, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Muhammad Ali towards the end of their careers out of my head. I could not bear to see Serena go out the way that they did.
One of the things that makes a great athlete is a fierce stubbornness. It, likewise, is also what keeps them around beyond their greatness. She certainly has earned the right to leave when she is good and ready. I just hope she is ready before Mother Time forces the issue.
Gus Griffin, for War Room Sports
