Big Three (tennis)
The Big Three is a common tennis term for Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.[1][2] From the 2003 Wimbledon Championships up to and including the 2020 Australian Open, the trio have dominated men's singles, winning 56 of the 67 Grand Slam titles, with Federer accounting for 20, Nadal 19 and Djokovic 17.[3] They have also occupied the top three positions of the year-end singles ATP Rankings eight times, in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2018 and 2019.[4]
Grand Slam singles combined best results
The Big Three are the top three players of all-time in terms of Grand Slam titles won, as well as the top three players in terms of Major finals reached. Federer has reached 31 finals, Nadal 27, and Djokovic 26. They are the only three male players in history to win eight or more singles titles at the same Grand Slam: Nadal with 12 French Open titles, Federer with eight Wimbledon titles, and Djokovic with eight Australian Open titles. (On the women's side, Martina Navratilova won nine times at Wimbledon, while Molla Mallory won eight US Championships, a predecessor of the US Open.)
Grand Slam | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | Success rate (since 2003) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Open | 4RF | WF | SFF | WF | WF | WD | WN | WF | WD | WD | WD | FN | WD | WD | WF | WF | WD | WD | 83% (15 / 18) |
French Open | 1RF | 3RF | WN | WN | WN | WN | WF | WN | WN | WN | WN | WN | FD | WD | WN | WN | WN | 82% (14 / 17) | |
Wimbledon | WF | WF | WF | WF | WF | WN | WF | WN | WD | WF | FD | WD | WD | SFF | WF | WD | WD | NH | 88% (15 / 17) |
US Open | 4RF | WF | WF | WF | WF | WF | FF | WN | WD | FD | WN | SFDF | WD | FD | WN | WD | WN | 71% (12 / 17) |
Key:
- W: Won
- F: Lost in the final
- SF: Lost in a semifinal
- nR: Lost in the nth round
- NH: Not held
- superscript:
- F: Federer
- N: Nadal
- D: Djokovic
ATP year-end ranking timeline
The Big Three monopolized the top spot in the ATP men's singles rankings from 2 February 2004 to 6 November 2016 and again from 21 August 2017 to the present, for a total of 800 weeks (equivalent to over 15 years) as of 9 March 2020. Federer was ranked number 1 for a record 310 weeks, Djokovic, the current number 1, for 281 weeks, and Nadal for 209 weeks. Each player has occupied the top position at the end of the year five times.
Year-end rank | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
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49 | 51 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
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679 | 186 | 78 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 2 |
Head-to-head matchups
The Big Three have played each other in 145 matches, including 69 finals. Of all the matches, 46 have been played at Grand Slam tournaments, including 22 finals.
The first match between two players of the Big Three occurred in March 2004 at the Miami Masters, where Nadal defeated Federer. Federer and Djokovic first met in April 2006 at the Monte Carlo Masters. Nadal and Djokovic first faced each other a month later at the 2006 French Open.
All tournaments | Grand Slams | Masters 1000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All rounds | Finals | All rounds | Finals | All rounds | Finals | |||||||||||||||||||
Player | M | W | L | % | M | W | L | % | M | W | L | % | M | W | L | % | M | W | L | % | M | W | L | % |
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90 | 39 | 51 | 43% | 43 | 16 | 27 | 37% | 31 | 10 | 21 | 32% | 14 | 4 | 10 | 29% | 39 | 16 | 23 | 41% | 20 | 8 | 12 | 40% |
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95 | 50 | 45 | 53% | 50 | 25 | 25 | 50% | 29 | 19 | 10 | 66% | 17 | 10 | 7 | 59% | 47 | 24 | 23 | 51% | 25 | 13 | 12 | 52% |
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105 | 56 | 49 | 53% | 45 | 28 | 17 | 62% | 32 | 17 | 15 | 53% | 13 | 8 | 5 | 62% | 48 | 27 | 21 | 56% | 21 | 12 | 9 | 57% |
Total | 145 | 69 | 46 | 22 | 67 | 33 |
Results by court surface
Nadal is dominant on clay, particularly at the French Open, where he has won all six matches against Federer and five of six against Djokovic.
Hard | Clay | Grass | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | M | W | L | % | M | W | L | % | M | W | L | % |
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58 | 29 | 29 | 50% | 24 | 6 | 18 | 25% | 8 | 4 | 4 | 50% |
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47 | 16 | 31 | 34% | 40 | 31 | 9 | 78% | 8 | 3 | 5 | 38% |
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65 | 40 | 25 | 62% | 32 | 11 | 21 | 34% | 8 | 5 | 3 | 63% |
Total | 85 | 48 | 12 |
Key:
- M: Meeting
- W: Win
- L: Loss
Two walkovers (the final of the 2014 ATP World Tour Finals and the semifinal of 2019 Indian Wells) are not included in the table.
Notable matches
- 2006 French Open – Men's Singles - Nadal thwarted Federer's bid to match Rod Laver's feat of winning all four Grand titles in the same season by triumphing in four sets. It was also Federer's first loss in a Grand Slam final.
- 2007 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles final - Federer defeated Nadal in five sets.
- 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles final - Nadal prevailed over Federer in five sets. Some consider this the greatest match in tennis history.
- 2009 Australian Open – Men's singles final - Nadal beat Federer in five sets for his first hard court Grand Slam title.
- 2012 Australian Open – Men's singles final - Djokovic outlasted Nadal in five sets. This is the longest Grand Slam final ever, clocking in at 5 hours and 53 minutes.
- 2012 French Open – Men's singles final - Nadal bested Djokovic in four. With his seventh French Open win, he passed Björn Borg and tied Chris Evert for the French Open record.
- 2014 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles final - Djokovic defeated Federer in five.
- 2015 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles final - In the rematch, Djokovic needed only four sets to down Federer.
- 2017 Australian Open – Men's singles final - Federer beat Nadal in five.
- 2019 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles final - Djokovic prevailed over Federer in five.
See also
- Big Four, the Big Three plus Andy Murray
References
- Eccleshare, Charlie (27 August 2018). "Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic head to US Open with 'Big Three' more dominant than ever". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- Chase, Chris (21 August 2018). "Federer, Nadal and Djokovic: Ranking the Big Three rivalries". USA Today. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- Zagoria, Adam (25 August 2019). "How The 'Big Three' Of Men's Tennis Has Taken Grand Slam Titles From A Generation Of Players". Forbes. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
- "Big 3 Dominance: Nadal, Djokovic, Federer Top Year-end Rankings". Tennis. 26 November 2019.