When a star bursts into light, it is more often than not part of a multiple star system, gravitationally bound to its other counterparts, orbiting around the center of gravity between them, each one’s cosmic position utterly dependent on the other.
For more than 20 years, men’s tennis has conformed to this pattern, too – its three biggest stars bound together; their legacies, achievements and careers entwined with their rivalries. During this time, the sport itself has sometimes seemed like a planet simply orbiting around the careers of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, as they hoovered up 66 of the 81 grand slam singles titles available between 2003 and 2023.
But this year, men’s tennis has had a different complexion since none of Federer, Nadal or Djokovic has won a grand slam title for the first time since 2002. Though Djokovic is still able to challenge for the biggest titles – as evidenced by his Olympic gold medal in August – it is now possible to see the shape of men’s tennis without the Big Three, and the complete impact they have left on the sport.
Whatever comes next is unlikely to mirror the previous era, leaving men’s tennis in an unfamiliar position, shorn of its three biggest icons who transcended the court. But they are leaving the sport in a healthy position, full of promising young players primed to occupy the space between sport and pop culture that remains.
‘The shift of power’
The era of the so-called Big Three has been waning for a while. Federer retired in 2022; Nadal’s brilliance has been sapped by recent injuries and he has said his own retirement date is close; Andy Murray, who consistently challenged the Big Three’s dominance and won three grand slam titles himself, retired last month as well.
But with Djokovic proving almost completely dominant in 2023 – winning three grand slams and only losing the final of the fourth in a five-set epic match – it seemed that the march of time would halt for at least one of them. Djokovic, however, last won an ATP title in November 2023, perhaps signaling the beginning of a new era in which the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will be headlining the sport.
They split the grand slams between them this year – Sinner, 22, won his first two major titles at the Australian Open and US Open while Alcaraz, 21, added the French Open and Wimbledon to make his tally four. In two of those grand slam finals, Alcaraz defeated Djokovic while Sinner defeated the Serb on his way to the Australian Open crown in January.
“The healthiest shift of power in sport is when the young guys are taking out the best of all time,” seven-time grand slam champion and Eurosport expert Mats Wilander tells CNN Sport, noting that Djokovic isn’t quite in his best form.
“That’s where this shift differs from other generations, where you would have had a great generation and then there was a lull for a few years … Pete Sampras stopped at the top of his game. That’s not the case with the Big Three, they pushed it all the way to the end.”
Such a shift has allowed for several “passing of the torch” moments, as the younger generation seeks to stamp its authority on the game. Already, new rivalries are emerging, most notably between Sinner and Alcaraz, whose five-and-a-quarter-hour-long clash in the 2022 US Open quarterfinal was “probably the best match of the decade so far on the men’s side,” according to tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg, even as they play without the contrasting styles that defined the Federer-Nadal rivalry.
It is likely, too, that titles will be shared around more equally, providing more opportunities for the American contingent of Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton to perhaps pick up a grand slam, as well as further opportunities for the likes of Holger Rune and 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev. A great career, in this era, will look different to those of the Big Three since it is unlikely that the younger generation will win the 20, 22 or 24 grand slam titles won by Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, respectively.
“There has to be a real recalibration … because I already see people talking, like, ‘Can Alcaraz catch Djokovic’s grand slam record?’” Rothenberg tells CNN Sport. “It’s a totally unfair measuring stick to use to quantify the current greats. Being in a generation where these three men plus Serena (Williams) all broke 20 really warped the perspective on what makes for a great career.”
‘Pushing the limits’
Even without the physical presence of the Big Three, their influence will still linger in this new era. So many of the players now challenging Djokovic grew up watching him compete against Nadal and Federer and, inevitably, they have influenced the way that the younger generations play.
Almost no one plays like Federer, Wilander says, because “it’s so difficult to be that clean technically and that effortless … (though) they might play a slice backhand here and there, come to the net a little bit.” The newer generation plays much more like Djokovic, he adds, “because that’s a way more basic way of hitting the ball, and of course, the Rafa Nadal effect on the game is racket head speed, where if you are really strong and you’re very loose, you can generate an enormous amount of topspin.”
And the Big Three’s dominance for such a long time has created a so-called “lost generation” of players unfortunate enough to be born in the 10 years after them, skewing the ages of those most successful on tour to be either at the end or beginning of their careers. Medvedev and Dominic Thiem, who is retiring at the end of this year, are still the only men born in the 1990s to win a grand slam.
“In the past, it was always: get to the quarterfinals, play Rafa and check your flights,” Simon Cambers – a journalist and co-author of “The Roger Federer Effect” – tells CNN Sport.
Trying to keep up with the Big Three has already taken its toll on the younger players.
“Because the three of them are so physically good, technique is good, the mind is so strong, the younger guys that come up … they are pushing the limits physically to the point where Alcaraz has already had a number of injuries because it’s so explosive,” Wilander says.
“I think they’ll figure it out, but it’s not going to look the same as the careers of the Big Three,” he adds. “It’s going to look different and we should get used to that.”
Making tennis ‘cool’
Off the court, the Big Three, particularly Federer, helped to cultivate a new image of a tennis player.
“Tennis now more than ever is cool in culture, whether it’s the style or what not, I think a lot of that can be attributed to the achievements of these three guys,” Jett Wright – a tennis agent at Topnotch Management – tells CNN Sport.
By the time Federer was 25 years old, renowned American novelist David Foster Wallace was writing essays about him, describing his play as a kind of “kinetic beauty,” eliciting a “religious experience” from the spectators lucky enough to be courtside. At the same time, his charisma, myriad of brand endorsements and friendship with Anna Wintour helped transform him into as much a pop culture figure and fashion icon as an athlete. Men’s tennis had never really seen anything like it.
“I remember when Federer was voted the best professional athlete in the world,” says Wilander. “And I don’t even know if we had a tennis player have that before … Don’t get me wrong, Pete Sampras, amazing athlete, Björn Borg. But (with) Federer, people started to get an idea that … tennis players might be the strongest and quickest with unbelievable stamina, flexibility, individuality, mentally strong.”
By taking on this role, Federer blazed a path for those who followed behind him – including Nadal and Djokovic – to cross over into the world outside tennis.
“Nowadays, I think it’s almost normal that Matteo Berrettini is a model for Hugo Boss, Sinner for Gucci, etc.,” says journalist Simon Graf, co-author of “The Roger Federer Effect” alongside Cambers.
In the past year, the number of brands advertising in tennis increased by 40%, according to SponsorUnited, a sports and entertainment research platform, making a faster increase than many other sports including the MLB, MLS and the NBA. More clothing and athleisure brands are investing in the sport, Wright adds, with tennis being “cool” and aligned with current fashion trends.
The new generation are proving themselves capable of driving high ticket prices, too. On average, fans were paying about $500 for the all-American semifinal between Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe on Friday, the fifth-most-expensive US Open men’s semifinal on record, a TickPick spokesperson told CNN.
As more playing opportunites open up for a wider pool of players, the commercial opportunities are not too far behind since “brands are able to start working with a younger player and know there’s serious potential for that player to do well in the next three, four, five years,” says Wright.
As more and more of these young stars make a name for themselves outside of the Big Three’s shadow, this golden era of men’s tennis will slowly fade into memory.
“Sport moves on all the time,” says Cambers. “It seems strangely a long time since Federer played now. But these guys are so massive in terms of personality and impact that they’ll be missed a lot.”
CNN’s Jordan Valinsky contributed reporting.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
