Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have made history in tennis and probably in the entire sports world. The rivalry between the three has reached incredible heights and the three, year after year, have shared the spotlight on the tennis circuit.
First Roger Federer, then Rafa Nadal and finally Novak Djokovic, number one in the rankings and on the court, with the three sharing no less than 62 Grand Slam titles in the last two decades. Chilling numbers with three tennis players who have dominated an era and clearly surpassed the numbers of legends of the past such as Pete Sampras, Pete Agassi or Bjorn Borg.
Monday June 13, 2022 will mark an epoch in tennis history, a date that will change tennis history and mark (perhaps the end) at least in the Big Three standings. For the first time since November 16, 2003 (almost 20 years) none of the three great tennis players will be part of the world Top 2.
On June 13, Russian Daniil Medvedev will be number one in the world and German Alexander Zverev will be number two. This is unprecedented and will see the big three drop down the world rankings. Roger Federer has appeared little on the tour in recent years, he has only played a few tournaments and after Wimbledon he could literally disappear from the ATP rankings.
It seems almost impossible that, at the age of 41, Roger will return to the Top 2. The situation is different for Rafa Nadal, who, with victories at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, is a candidate for this resounding possibility and perhaps dreams with a surprising and incredible return as number one in the world.
Flink opens up on Djokovic
While reflecting on the match on a recent podcast, sports journalist Steve Flink suggested that the body language and psyche of both players had flipped from their clash from last year, which Novak Djokovic won.
“That was almost a reversal of psyches this time. Last year, Novak was really enjoying himself. There were times he was smiling and there was a positive energy to him. Rafa was fretting a bit. This time, I thought that Djokovic seemed kind of negative, irked by the crowd while Rafa was terrific,” Flink said.
Flink believes the fans could have seen an even bigger battle had the match gone the distance. “I had a feeling if we could have got to the fifth set, maybe both players would have really taken it up a notch and we could have had a spectacular battle. But it was not to be because Djokovic did not close it out when he had the chance,” said Flink.