The season of 2018 is all done and dusted, and the men's Tennis is having a bit of nostalgia attached to it. It's enough to take a quick glance at the year's end arrangement to start understanding how blesses we've all been all these years. Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer are the highest players for the seventh time at the curtain's fall.
To get a grasp of what these guys are thinking about the idea of longevity, it's simpler to stick to hard facts, and hard facts only. Back in 2007, this gigantic tennis trio ended the year in the same formula.
Eleven years after that, they are about to let the curtain drop on top of perhaps the best era tennis has ever seen.
Tennis without Federer, Nadal or Djokovic
As the years went by, and countless titles and awards piled up for each of these super athletes, the final bell is about to ring as they're not far from knocking at the retirement's door. Federer is marching towards his 38th birthday, Nadal will turn 33 next July and Djokovic will be marking his 32nd anniversary next May. According to the atpworldtour.com, their current age combined has reached the 100th mark. A funny stat indeed, it's also the perfect indicator for how long these guys have been around.
Although it might be discouraging to even consider a tennis pro circuit without these guys involved in it, the reality tells a cruel truth.
In what could be as a decent bet, five years from now we'll all be looking back to a past era of men's tennis while contemplating a field the younger generation would have to keep it alive.
How things will settle once the Big 3 members will step aside is hard to anticipate although we may have a clue or two.
Installing a crushing dominance over the Grand Slam events led to a lack of variety in the past 15 years or so.
Only a few were able to break up the oligopoly. Still, none of those seemed able to impact the grand scene of men's tennis further.
According to ESPN, the level of dominance is surreal as the stats speak for themselves. The glamorous tennis trio has clinched 51 Grand Slam tennis events over a 15 years time span.
The NextGen is far from delivering a solid response
One who might want to picture the men's tennis future might have a lot of difficulties throughout this hypothetical process. Given the current state of affairs, only a few players can be worthy of a winning bet.
The young German Alexander Zverev leads that pack as he has already had two solid years inside the top 10. Winning the Nitto ATP Finals after capturing back-to-back wins to Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic put the tennis superstar cap on his shoulders, at least for the time being.
Others like Stephanos Tsitsipas, Borna Coric, Karen Khachanov or Alex de Minaur are in the second line of the offensive. They encountered various types of success, but they still lack the one thing that makes a champion. In the end, it all comes down to consistency and one's ability to routinely deliver it on a daily basis.
