Quizmaster Phanindra Ivatury of the Netherlands shares his observations on the tennis court, noting that the decades of dominance by the legendary trinity of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic seem to be ending, and highlighting the stupendous rise of two young tennis prodigies, Carlos Alcaraz Garfia and Jannik Sinner.
UTRECHT (The Netherlands), July 28 (Bernama) -- At the conclusion point of this year’s first three tennis Grand Slams (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon till July with US Open to go in August), men’s singles tennis has witnessed something spectacular.
The last instance of “none” from the legendary trinity of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic have been heralded champions in at least one of these three concluded Grand Slams of a calendar year was way back in 2002, a good two plus decades ago. Such was the ruthless dominance of the troika at Grand Slams that it collectively fetched them an almost unsurpassable bounty of 66 singles titles and hopefully, still counting. Now, 2024 seems to be making some massive changes to that uninterrupted success script of 24 years.
New Kids on the Block:
Jannik Sinner from Italy and Carlos Alcaraz Garfia of Spain, two young tennis athletes born just in the first decade of this century have not only climbed the ranking radar super fast but seem to have found a way in forcing their names onto those three major trophies this year. While Sinner picked the year’s first Slam, the Australian Open; Alcaraz made history by becoming only the sixth man in open era to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year.
Keeping the trophy count aside, the duo have so far managed consistent spotlight with their undying spirit of courage and fearlessness even while taking on some modern day greats standing on the opposite side of the court.
A Cut Above the Rest:
Though many competing tennis athletes of the ATP tour are in sync with the highs and lows of present day power tennis, when it comes to crossing the final hurdles at big arenas, Sinner and Alcaraz are showing the world why they clearly are a cut above the rest.
Figure this. Daniil Medvedev of Russia who has consistently stayed in the Top 10 of men’s tennis, has been in three Australian Open Finals in 2021, 2022 and 2024 failing to convert each of those three appearances into trophies while Alcaraz and Sinner have collectively converted each of their five Grand Slam Final appearances into trophies.
Alcaraz and His Back-to-Back Wimbledon Trohpies:
At the ripe old age of 21, Alcaraz already has his trophy bag heavy with four Grand Slam singles titles. After having won his first major at the US Open in 2022, Alcaraz picked his first Wimbledon trophy last year while adding the French and Wimbledon trophies to the tally this year.
Notably, it was Alcaraz who stood in Djokovic’s way at the final summit clash of Wimbledon last year and also this year, denying him what would have been a record 25th Grand Slam title.
While the 2023 Final was a closely fought five setter between the two, Alcaraz just steamrolled past Djokovic this year, winning it in straight sets. When someone can repeat or even better a result like that for a second time in succession, it ceases to be a fluke.
When Stats Take a Tumble:
More and more records have started tumbling with Alcaraz’s dazzling on-court achievements since the last three years. Just a few of those are mentioned below:
At the cost of jumping the gun, by drawing inferences from what all he had achieved on a tennis court period, Alcaraz is a prodigy who may soon be standing next in line for being called an all-time tennis great.
The Top Ranking:
While Alcaraz already has four singles Grand Slams in his kitty, Sinner has the current world No. 1 ranking to show. After breaking into the top 100 in 2019, Sinner had a meteoric rise in singles tennis, winning 14 career titles till date, including a Slam.
At the Australian Open this year, he upset the defending champion Djokovic in the semifinal. The most significant part of this triumph was that Sinner didn’t even allow a single break point on his serve to Djokovic. The all-time great later made a stinging assessment of his performance, describing it as “one of the worst Grand Slam matches he had played”.
Like it is for Alcaraz, the bloom for the future can be envisioned from Sinner's budding career.
End of the ‘Big Three’ Era?
All good things must come to an end’ is a well digested idiom. Probably the “end” inspires and paves way for something good to re-start again.
When it comes to records, it is often said that they are meant to be broken or re-written, but when it comes to the ones created by the “big three”, they may arguably stand the test of time.
Federer has already walked away into the sunset in 2022 having won 20 singles majors in his illustrious career.
Nadal has put his retirement plans on temporary hold in pursuit of Paris Olympic glory this year. He had also stated recently that he “cannot guarantee” that his 2024 Roland Garros first round appearance was his “last”, leaving it to tantalising fan speculation that he can add more to his fat tally of 22 grand slam singles titles.
That leaves us with Djokovic who has two big ambitions to consider before deciding on hanging his boots up sometime ahead, if not in the immediate future.
One is to go past his and Margaret Court’s record of 24 singles Grand Slam titles (both are currently tied on number 24) and the other is to try and win an elusive Singles Gold for his country Serbia at the Paris Olympics this year. (He only has an Olympic Bronze to show from Beijing 2008 after agonisingly missing out on medals from the London 2012 and Tokyo 2021 Olympics, both times losing in Bronze medal encounters.)
Holding Back the Sands of Time:
With the “big three” triangle no more existent post-Federer’s retirement, the onus is on Nadal and Djokovic to try and add further glory to the trio’s celebrated tennis conquests. Both the champions have a task on hand as they wouldn’t want to risk a drop from being hailed for decades as major forces in men’s tennis till stretching it to a point of acquiring a “spent force” label. Also their sport battered and bruised bodies will soon crave for life outside active tennis, if not already.
Post retirement, Federer is often spotted sitting suited-booted in the Royal Box at Wimbledon watching all the summer action unfold on his cherished Centre Court. Has the “time” almost arrived for Nadal and Djokovic, too, to follow suit? Only “time” will tell.
-- BERNAMA
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