Former British No. 1 Annabel Croft has warned Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray that their dominance of men’s tennis is coming to an end.
According to Croft, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray are no longer as authoritative as they were when they were dominating the ATP landscape day in, day out.
While Nadal and Federer are still ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the world, Djokovic has endured a miserable time on the court ever since he returned from a six-month injury layoff, losing three successive matches for the first time in more than a decade. On the other hand, Murray is still recovering from a hip injury, which required surgery and is expected to be back in action only in June.
This changed scenario in men’s tennis has allowed the likes of Jack Sock, Juan Martin Del Potro and John Isner claim the last three Masters 1000 events in Paris, Indian Wells and Miami. These tournaments were earlier completely dominated by the Big Four.
And Croft believes the transition that everybody was expecting is finally taking place in men’s tennis.
Croft said: “There is a huge difference between what is happening in men’s tennis now and when we had that massive domination [from the Big Four].
“We haven’t seen quite a lot of the big names [recently] like [Stan] Wawrinka and Andy Murray. It is a fascinating time in men’s tennis because no longer at the beginning of an event can you predict what will happen.
“At the start of the year it looked like Federer was going to dominate once again but that is not quite happening.
“Rafa has had the hip problems and then there is the massive number of young players coming through the game, who are trying to take advantage of this changing period in the game.”
Nadal and Djokovic will next compete in the Monte Carlo Masters, which begins on 15 April.
Murray will make his much anticipated comeback at the Libema Open in Holland in June while Federer is scheduled to participate in the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, where he is the defending champion in the same month.
