Since 2004, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and, to a certain extent, Andy Murray, are the players to beat in men’s tennis. In the past 16 years, only six other players have been able to win a major crown, with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic pushing themselves to their limits, with respectively 20, 19 and 17 Grand Slam titles.
Only “Big 4” players claimed the No. 1 place of honor during this period, leaving nothing to their rivals and dominating the Masters 1000 series to stay miles ahead of all the others.
The experienced Frenchman, Glles Simon, had the opportunity to face Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray no less than 48 times, scoring six triumphs (he is one of the players with at least one victory against them all) and suffering 42 defeats .
In a blog post on the ATP website, Simon said it was natural to chase after the biggest trophies, although it is almost impossible to succeed with the “Big 4”.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic: almost total domination
Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have won the 13 Majors since 2017, while standing at a high level, preventing their rivals from breaking that charm and going all the way, even if some were not far from get there recently.
Mentioning Rafael Nadal, Simon said it was almost impossible to think of the title of Roland Garros with him in the area. He also praised the Spaniard and his incredible record at this major clay championship.
Making his debut in Paris in 2005 (he had to skip Roland Garros in 2003 and 2004 due to injuries), Nadal went all the way to clinch the first major title just a few days after his 19 years, he thus started his Parisian reign that still stands, 15 years later.
Over the past ten and a half years, Nadal’s name has become synonymous with Roland Garros. He won 12 titles there and only lost to Robin Soderling and Novak Djokovic. Dominic Thiem has been Nadal’s rival in the title game for the past two seasons, and the Spaniard has been too strong in both cases.
He kept the Austrian away from the crown and added more titles to his incredible Roland Garros record. Gilles Simon scored a victory over Rafa in this epic semi-final of the Madrid Masters in 2008 on an indoor hard court.
The Frenchman prevailed over the Spaniard after almost three and a half hours, before losing to Andy Murray in the next match. At Rome 2014, Simon stayed in contact with his opponent, before Rafa moved up a gear in set number three to cross the finish line.
“The problem is that when you’re a tennis player, you want to win big tournaments. However, with Rafael Nadal in competition, for example, it’s difficult to win Roland Garros.”
–
