Every January, the top tennis players from around the world meet in Melbourne, Australia to kick off the year. This year’s Australian Open marked a monumental moment in men’s tennis history. It represents the rise of a new generation in tennis, with young talents like Jannik Sinner, Ben Shelton, and Carlos Alcaraz dominating the draw. But it also marks the start of the end of a golden age of tennis, hallmarked by the incredible performances of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer.
Since the early 2000s, Nadal, Djokovic, and Federer have dominated every major tournament, each racking in dozens of titles. All three men have won each of the four Grand Slams, the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. They have also all been ranked as number one for hundreds of weeks, with the longest reign going to Djokovic who has been ranked number one for a total of 412 weeks.
This golden era got its first crack in 2016 when Federer got knee surgery for persisting injuries in his left knee. Then starting in 2020, Federer had three more surgeries on his knee, with the final one occurring after Wimbledon in 2021. He then withdrew from several tournaments for the next year, and announced his retirement in 2022, with his farewell game being at the Laver Cup in late September.
The cracks have continued to grow since then, as Nadal is now the one suffering from countless injuries. This is nothing new for Nadal, having dealt with tendonitis and wrist problems since 2009. But his injuries have since increased drastically. In 2021, Nadal ended the season early with a severe foot injury that added to pre-existing foot pain he has due to Mueller-Weiss syndrome (a condition where the navicular bone in the foot progressively collapses over time, leading to pain in the heel and arch of the foot). Nadal was diagnosed with this syndrome in 2005 and has since always had some sort of foot pain. Then in 2022, Nadal’s season ended in July when he dropped out of Wimbledon during his quarterfinal match, having suffered a seven-millimeter tear to his abdominal muscle. In 2023, he played in the Australian Open but lost very early on in the tournament. This wasn’t followed by a comeback, because Nadal was out for the rest of the 2023 season due to major hip problems. In January of this year, Nadal withdrew from the 2024 Australian Open just a week before the start of the tournament with yet another hip injury. Most recently, in February, Nadal withdrew from the Qatar Open as his hip injury persisted. This makes the tennis world wonder when it will be Nadal’s turn to hang up his racket, and how soon this time will come.
Djokovic is now the only one still actively playing tournaments. This makes the most sense, as he’s the youngest of the three men, at thirty-six years old, while Nadal is thirty-seven and Federer is forty-two. Djokovic has ended every season in the last several years on a high. His most recent win was in August of 2023 when he won the US Open, securing a twenty-fourth major title. However, it is unclear how long Djokovic’s 2024 season will last. At the 2024 Australian Open, he was defeated in a tough four-set semi-final match by reigning twenty-two-year-old champion, Jannik Sinner. Since then, Djokovic has announced that he may begin pulling out of tournaments this season so he can focus on Grand Slam tournaments and spend more time with his wife and kids. While this focus on major tournaments could help Djokovic’s playing and allow him to play at his peak, it might be a sign that he’s slowly stepping away from tennis.
While Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic have been slowly slipping away from the limelight, new talent is stepping in and taking their place. As mentioned above, Sinner has proved to the world he has what it takes to be a champion, defeating Djokovic in the semi-finals and third seed, Daniil Medvedev, in the finals of the Australian Open. Carlos Alcaraz has also established a reputation for being the next great in tennis. Alcaraz has won two Grand Slams so far, the 2022 US Open and Wimbledon 2023. Being only twenty years old there are surely many more Grand Slam titles to come. A third up-and-coming star in the world of tennis is twenty-one-year-old Ben Shelton. Having emerged from playing college tennis in 2022, Shelton put on a show at the 2023 US Open, showing off powerful serves and charisma. Shelton made it to the semi-finals where he was defeated by Djokovic. All these new players have proven that they have what it takes to be champions, ushering in a new age of tennis.