Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal have been dominating the tennis scene for the last couple of decades winning 56 slams in aggregate. A few players have managed to sneak in and win a slam every now and then such as Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic and Juan Martin Del Potro. However, that was not enough to create a new champion as their dominance seems to be unchallenged even now that they are well in their 30s.
During a recent panel promoted by Tennis Majors, former world no.7 Marion Bartoli had a rather interesting discussion with Noah Rubin (founder of Behind the Racket) and well-known (and controversial) American journalist Ben Rothenberg.
During the panel, there was an interesting discussion about the adoption of a best-of-3 format during slams. Ben Rothenberg has always stated his idea of playing a slam with a best-of-3 format and he reiterated this concept during the panel as follows:
“I think it’s an amazing idea for 2020, and we can reevaluate for the future after that. I absolutely think this is the worst time to try to get guys to be playing best-of-five, for several reasons. They’re not in peak physical or mental health condition right now.
The schedule is so packed; they’re going to have to play Masters events the week before these Grand Slams, assuming the schedule all goes as planned. Physically, it’s way too much to ask for these guys.”
Noha Rubin agreed with the concept to say
“I think tennis is going to have to move in that direction in terms of broadcasting rights. But I’m just looking at the players who have played exhibition tournaments. They’re already injured. Their bodies are not ready for [playnig long best-of-five matches]. This is too much to handle. I don’t want players getting injured and they’re missing the 2021 season.”
Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli disagreed with the concept saying that it’s fair that top guys win slams to keep the interest in the sport.
“I know for Roland-Garros, they won’t use it. You don’t want to have a top seed going out and losing 7-6, 7-6 to a big server. All of a sudden the one who is selling tickets is out of it and you don’t want to see that. All of a sudden you have nobody left in the draw.
I think we have to keep it the way it is. If someone wins a Grand Slam, they have to win it the way it has always been,” she commented.
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Novak Djokovic in 2020
At the moment ranked no.1, Novak played his last match on the 29th of February when he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 6-4 in the final in Dubai to win his 79th career title.
This year Novak has a 18-0 win-loss record. The Serbian clinched 2 titles in 2020 at the Australian Open and in Dubai.
Roger Federer in 2020
Currently the world no.4, Roger played his last match on the 30th of January when he lost to Novak Djokovic 7-61 6-4 6-3 in the semifinal of the Australian Open.
Roger Federer’s best accomplishment of the present year was reaching the semi-finals at the Australian Open.
Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer played each other 50 times. The head to head is 27-23 for Djokovic. The last time that they locked horns, Novak Djokovic won 7-61 6-4 6-3 in the semifinal in Melbourne (Australian Open) on the 30th of January 2020.
Rafael Nadal in 2020
Ranked no.2, Nadal played his last match on the 29th of February when he overcame Taylor Fritz 6-3 6-2 in the final in Acapulco to win his 85th career title.
Currently, this year Nadal has a 13-3 win-loss record. Nadal has won 1 title in Acapulco.
