Roger Federer’s retirement has kicked off the beginning of the end of the golden period for tennis.
Along with Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, the trio known as the Big Three of men’s tennis, who accumulated so many Grand Slam titles — 63 in all — that it seems unlikely anyone will reach the standards they set.
Even as the battle is set to continue for Nadal and Djokovic, the duo face an increasing threat from the Next Gen.
Carlos Alcaraz, who recently won the US Open in 2022, is widely considered the biggest threat for Nadal and Djokovic as experts believe the 19-year-old can come close to emulating the Big Three’s Grand Slam feat.
Federer recently opened up on Alcaraz’s chances.
“You don’t want to have that price tag – ‘you’re the one who’s going to win 20-plus’, Federer has said so," Alcaraz.
“I think that’s not fair because nobody can predict that type of number.
“Once you reach maybe five, seven, you can say like: ‘OK, now we can start talking. But we never talked about 20 with me. We always talked about maybe you could reach 15 (to beat the previous record, set by Pete Sampras). It just starts to increase more and more."
Federer though feels that the next generation may not be able to get to the mark of 20 Grand Slams.
“You know, everything’s slow nowadays. Indoors is not what it used to be. It wasn’t like this type of surface (pointing to a wooden floor), where it was like lightning," he said.
“That’s why I think there will be more players in the future with I’d say five-plus slams. Because once you get on a roll, you can stay on a roll. I do believe at some point, somehow, there will be definitely a few players with 20-plus Slams. I’m convinced about that," Federer added.
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