Bengaluru:
A transformative Grand Slam season dominated by Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz has provided the clearest sign yet that the era of the ‘Big Three’ in men’s tennis is finally over, with Novak Djokovic set to be the top seed at the end of the final year.
The golden rule of never disqualifying Djokovic still holds true, but after Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer won at least one Grand Slam title in every season since 2003, there was none this year.
Sinner lifted the US Open title on Sunday after his huge win at the Australian Open in January, while Alcaraz won the French Open and Wimbledon, marking the first time since 1993 that men aged 23 or younger have swept the four major championship titles.
“It’s a bit different, for sure. It’s something new, but it’s also good to see,” said Sinner, who overcame the distraction of the doping controversy to help usher in a new era.
“It’s nice to see new champions. It’s good to see new rivalries. I feel like it’s good for the sport to have some new champions.”
The extraordinary dominance of the ‘Big Three’ has seen them win 66 out of 81 Grand Slam tournaments, from Federer’s first title at Wimbledon in 2003 to Djokovic’s 24th title at Flushing Meadows last year.
With Federer retired and Nadal hampered by injury, Djokovic has single-handedly reined in the younger generation in 2023 by winning three Grand Slams and finishing at the end of the year for a record-extending eighth time.
This year, Djokovic has endured a lackluster Grand Slam campaign by his lofty standards, starting with a semifinal loss to Sinner at Melbourne Park, and continuing with the injury that forced him to withdraw from the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
After being beaten by Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final, he was beaten by Aleksei Popyrin in the third round of the US Open and was ruled out of the Grand Slam for the first time since an injury-plagued 2017 season.
However, he made a superhuman effort to fend off younger competitors at the Paris Olympics, including Alcaraz in the final, and capture the gold medal he had long coveted.
“From a bigger perspective, of course I have to be satisfied,” Djokovic said after his exit from the US Open.
“It’s hard to see the big perspective right now. You’re angry and upset about the loss and the way you played. But tomorrow is a new day. Obviously I’ll think about what to do next.”
Mission impossible
Having turned 37 last May, Djokovic is already past the age at which any player has won a Grand Slam title, and ending the season at the top of the world rankings seems an impossible task at the end of his career.
Djokovic sits ninth in the race towards the season finale in Turin – a separate ranking since the start of the year that serves as a barometer for the battle for top spot – and is unlikely to make much progress in the Asian swing from this month.
Perhaps the most important goal for a man who has always had great respect for the history of the game is to win a 25th major championship to surpass Margaret Court’s record.
This is no more likely to happen than at the Australian Open in January, where Djokovic lifted the trophy a record 10 times in 19 matches.
“You never want to rule him out,” seven-time Grand Slam champion John McEnroe told Eurosport.
“This will definitely be the first time you can say with some seriousness that you’re starting to wonder if he’s going to win (a major) again.
“I’m sure I’ll be surprised either way. If he doesn’t win, you’ll say ‘wow, he won three out of four last year and now we’re saying he’ll never win them again’.”
“And then I would be surprised in a way if he did, because of his age. At some point, it catches up with you and you lose a little bit of that fear factor with some guys.”