The US Open final was noteworthy for being the first grand slam final since 2005 without Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, or Novak Djokovic. What remains to be seen is how common this will be over the next couple of years. There have been a handful of younger players knocking on the door for a little while now, but the “Big Four” (the abovementioned three plus Andy Murray) always used to find a way to hold them off where it mattered most. It appears that many of the big tournaments over the next few seasons will still be won by Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Andy Murray, but it is also clear that they now have serious competition.
US Open finalists Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic showed they are capable of beating anyone in the world, and should gain tons of confidence from their remarkable runs. Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov recently reached the semifinals of Wimbledon, and are not far behind themselves. The days of almost every grand slam semifinal consisting of Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray appear to be over. This does not mean they are going away anytime soon, just that they will not continue to dominate to the degree they have done in the past. The gap between the “Big Four” and this next crop of players seems to be getting smaller every month, and this is a trend that will be hard for them to reverse.
Perhaps most importantly, members of the “Big Four” now seem beatable to this emerging crop of players. Federer isn’t getting any younger, Nadal and Murray have had injury problems, and Djokovic’s motivation and focus hasn’t been as strong of late as it has been in the past. Nishikori, Cilic, Dimitrov and Raonic can now sense that big tournaments are theirs for the taking, and this should only motivate them further.
While some fans are worrying that their beloved “Big Four” are beginning to wane, this should be good for the sport. Initially, watching the likes of Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray contest final after final was exhilarating. However, seeing the same thing over and over tends to get old after a while, and many of the finals matchups were beginning to lose some of the appeal they had early on. Seeing some new faces at the end of the big tournaments should bring some excitement and badly needed variety to the game. It would be great for tennis if the “Big Four” is still extremely successful going forward (as they carry the ratings and bring out the fans), with newer guys taking turns facing them in semis and finals of big tournaments.
This would let fans become more and more familiar with the next crop of players, without creating a sudden drop off in interest by losing the “Big Four” too quickly. I’m not sure the governing bodies of tennis and its television partners want to see too many more Cilic/Nishikori finals over the next year or so, but matchups involving Nishikori, Dimitrov, Cilic and Raonic against a member of the “Big Four” could provide plenty of interest.
While the “golden age” of men’s tennis may be winding down, the next few years could be very entertaining as well. A still very relevant “Big Four” plus the addition of new challengers may be just what tennis needs.
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