FEDERER , NADAL , MURRAY , & “THE BOUNCER” NOVAK DJOKOVIC

Written by: Tennischiro on 25th July 2014

FEDERER , NADAL , MURRAY , & "THE BOUNCER" NOVAK DJOKOVIC

epaselect epa04298809 Roger Federer of Switzerland returns to Milos Raonic of Canada during their semi-final match of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 04 July 2014. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

The Big Four: Part 1 – How Good Are They?

I decided to try to write an article on how important the tournaments are the next 3 weeks and really the next 6 weeks including the US Open, but I felt the best way to illustrate that was to show how important these events have been to the Big Four: Federer, Djokovic, Nadal and Murray. Yes, Murray is down to 10 in the world, but once you see the data I will outline here, I think you will understand why it is legitimate to continue to include him in this elite quartet. (He did, after all, have back surgery last fall.)

So, first of all, are they really the big four, or even three plus one. Hereʼs the data:

Roger Federer first got to #3 in the world on 2/7/2003.Federer. After winning Wimbledon in 2003 until the fall of 2011, he was never worse than 3 in the world, the place he currently holds with a slim lead over Stan Wawrinka. In fact for over 6 years, he dominated the #1 ranking giving it up to Nadal for just a few weeks. And up until 10 years after that first Wimbledon victory, he was never ranked lower than #3 on the ATP computer. But there is really no question that, if Roger is not the GOAT, he is at least right there in the conversation. Count 10 years in a row for Roger in the top 4. And 17 Slam singles titles.

Rafael Nadal came up much quicker than Roger entering the top 10 4/25/2005 before his 20th birthday and his initial Roland Garros title. Rafa moved quickly to #2 by July of 2005 and was never lower until February of 2010, except for 3 consecutive weeks in August of 2009 when he dropped to #3. He only spent one week as low as #4 up until his long break the second half of 2012 for his gimpy knees dropped him down to #5 for 16 weeks the beginning of 2013 even as he was winning everything (except Wimbledon) in sight. He regained that #1 ranking and held it until a couple of weeks ago and is still well clear of Roger at #3. His streak started 2 years after Rogerʼs, but he is almost 5 years younger. He is also clearly in the discussion for GOAT and generally recognized as the greatest clay court player of all time. Count 8 1/2 years for Rafa in the top 4. We wonʼt count the half year hiatus for or against him. And 14 Slam singles titles.

Novak Djokovic is just about 50 weeks younger than Nadal. He entered the elite level of the game almost 2 years after Rafa making the top 10 on 3/19/2007 and also ascended to a #3 ranking just 4 months later. Since 7/9/07 he has been a member of the top 4 with only 21 weeks as low as #4 and not out of the top 2 since 3/21/2011. The reigning Wimbledon champ is building a resume that could put him in the GOAT discussion, but he will need a lot more majors. So far Nole has just 7 years in a row in the top 4, but he looks like he will be in that upper echelon for at least 3 more years. Weʼll see what fatherhood does to him. The Djoker has 7 Slam singles titles.

Andy Murray is just a week older than Novak. He didnʼt make the top 10 until 1/7/2008. He entered the elite top 4 after the 2008 US Open at #4 on 9/8/2008 and only had 14 weeks where he dropped as low as #5 until the beginning of this year when the down time for back surgery began to really impact his ranking. But for 5 solid years he had consistently been ranked 2, 3 or 4 and when he added the 2013 Wimbledon crown to

his Olympic and US Open titles in 2012, it looked like he might achieve the number one ranking. The back surgery handed him a setback and he looked like he was recovering from it when he played Rafa so tough in the semis of Rome going down 7-5 in the third and reached the semis of Roland Garros. However, his performances against Rafa at the French and Dimitrov at Wimbledon were disappointing straight set beat downs. It is not clear which Andy we will see from here on out, the one who had Rafa on the ropes at the Foro Italico or the one Dimitrov handled 6-1, 7-6, 6-2. I was so impressed with Andyʼs early round play at Roland Garros that I called one of my former students and told her to be sure to find a recording of his match because Andy was demonstrating such amazing court craft throwing everything in the book at his opponent using everything in his tool box. But then that was nowhere to be seen in his final matches. Credit Andy with 5 years in the top 4 and 2 Slam singles titles.

In Part 2, Iʼll go over how this groupʼs dominance in the late rounds of the Slams has been so critical in their ability to keep a stranglehold on the top 4 places in the rankings the last 5 years (except when they were injured).

10sChiro

to see other articles by 10sChiro, go to

https://archive.10sballs.com/category/columnists/dr-chiro/

https://archive.10sballs.com/author/don/

For more information about about lessons with TennisChiro at Griffith Park or Arcadia Park or his videotaping and analysis service, just dial **tennispro on your cell phone. You will get a text with his email and phone number

Topics: 10sChiro, Andy Murray, Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafa, Sports, Tennis News, The Big Four

Follow 10SBALLS.COM on:

Facebook:

Twitter:

10sBalls_com says:

July 25, 2014 at 11:36 am

@rogerfederer , @RafaelNadal , @andy_murray & “THE BOUNCER” @DjokerNole – http://t.co/w67gdGLGle #tennis @FedererNews @nadalnews #TheBigFour