The ATP Finals’ 12-year residency at London’s O2 Arena came to a close on Sunday with a high-quality three-set victory for Russia’s Daniil Medvedev over reigning US Open champion Dominic Thiem.
The O2 has played a perfect host for the prestigious season finale since 2009. And while the tournament’s relocation to Turin next year is definitely the end of an era, last week’s action that culminated with Medvedev’s crowning moment, to many, signalled the start of a new one.
Both Medvedev and Thiem claimed wins over Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal en route to the final and the Russian is actually the first player in the tournament’s history to topple each of the world’s top three on his way to clinching the trophy.
The fourth-ranked Muscovite concluded his 2020 season by winning 10 matches in a row through his back-to-back title runs in Paris and London, while Thiem walked away with the runner-up trophy for a second consecutive year at the ATP Finals but is surely still brimming with confidence from his maiden Grand Slam success in New York in September.
Moments after the trophy ceremony at the O2 on Sunday, both finalists were fielding questions about whether their latest achievements signify a changing of the guard in men’s tennis. Is the ‘Big Three’ dynasty of Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer under a serious threat?
“We proved that we can play with the legends, that we can also beat them, that we can also win the biggest tournaments,” Thiem said. “I think for tennis some exciting times are coming ahead.”
For nearly 15 years, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have been at the top of the game, dominating the biggest tournaments and amassing 57 grand slams and 99 Masters 1000 titles between them.
At ages 33 and 34, Djokovic and Nadal are still the top two in the world rankings and the 39-year-old Federer is close behind in the No 5 spot. They’ve scooped 14 of the last 15 majors, including two this season, and 17 of the last 30 Masters 1000 crowns.
That doesn’t really sound like a struggling trio by any measure.
Last week wasn’t the first time a player from the younger generation has reigned supreme in the ATP Finals during the ‘Big Three’ era.
Medvedev is the third consecutive 24-and-under player to lift the trophy at the O2, following in the footsteps of Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, who won the title in 2018 and 2019, respectively, aged 21.
Premature changing of the guard statements came to the fore after each of those aforementioned victories by Next Gen stars, mostly because of tennis’ desperate need for fresh talent to rise and secure the sport’s future. Many have jumped at the opportunity to hype up the younger generation, only for the ‘Big Three’ to hold on even tighter the following season.
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Which begs the question: Is there reason to believe this year’s developments will usher in a significant shake-up at the top in 2021?
The younger crew has certainly made its strongest case yet.
For starters, Thiem’s US Open triumph snapped a 13-slam winning streak for the Big Three. He is currently the only player under the age of 30 to have a singles major trophy on his resume. His breakthrough has no doubt instilled a great sense of belief among the younger challengers like Medvedev, Tsitsipas and Zverev, who have all reached at least two grand slam semi-finals.
Their head-to-head records against the devastating trio are also encouraging.
The 27-year-old Thiem owns a combined 16-18 win-loss record against Djokovic, Nadal and Federer (he is 5-2 against the latter). Medvedev is 4-10, Tsitsipas is 5-12, while Zverev is 8-12.
These are all players who grew up watching Federer and Co on television and have dreamt of one day facing them on court. Now that they know they can beat them – more than once – they can start to truly unlock their potential.
Medvedev and Thiem have spoken about the responsibility they feel towards stepping up, attracting new fans to the sport, and finally disrupting the ‘Big Three’ establishment. That awareness is only fuelling their hunger even more.
“Hopefully, all of us young guys will keep pushing and we’ll have some great rivalries. Hopefully we can be there for a long time, pushing the other generations back, because that's how we can be close to the ‘Big Three’, because they probably went through two, three generations without dropping their level, which is not easy,” said Medvedev.
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“But what is definitely good from us, from Dominic, from me, especially if we talk just about this tournament, we managed both to beat Rafa and Novak, which is an amazing accomplishment.”
Thiem knows there are big shoes to fill moving forward but feels he’s up for the challenge.
“I think it's super important for the sport, because like Roger, Rafa, Nole and also Andy [Murray], they did so much for the sport. I think they brought so many new fans to tennis. There is going to be a time when they are not around anymore, and then it's going to be so important to keep all the tennis fans, to keep them with this great sport,” said the Austrian.
“I think that's our challenge, that we perform well, that we play great in big tournaments, that we become huge stars ourselves. That’s our challenge to keep all those people with tennis and to maybe continue their story.”
A great deal of uncertainty still lies ahead for 2021 as tennis continues to figure out a way to operate during the coronavirus pandemic. But amidst all the uncertainty, there is little doubt we’ll witness more breakthroughs from the younger generation next season.
