Novak Djokovic meets Federer, Nadal, Laver and Rosewall as the fifth..
In May last year, Novak Djokovic celebrated his 31st birthday and the first since 2006 outside the top-20 group, working hard on regaining his old form and fight for big titles as he did for almost a decade before 2017 and that elbow injury. That didn't happen at Roland Garros but the Serb was back at his best at Wimbledon, lifting his 13th Grand Slam trophy and the first in two years, also becoming the third-oldest winner of the greatest tennis tournament in the Open era. With huge confidence, Novak conquered the US Open as the third-oldest player behind Ken Rosewall and Stan Wawrinka, with no one to stop him in Melbourne in the previous two weeks as well!
Djokovic has won the third straight Grand Slam crown and the record-breaking seventh Australian Open crown, becoming the fifth player in the Open era with three Grand Slam titles after turning 30, joining Ken Rosewall, Rod Laver, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on that list. Novak stands fourth on the list of the oldest Australian Open winners in the Open era behind Ken Rosewall, Roger Federer and Andre Agassi and he will top many more age records if he continues to play like this. In the fourth-oldest Australian Open final, Novak took down Rafael Nadal in straight sets and this was the tenth straight Grand Slam crown for the players at the age of 30&over, extending the streak that kicked off at the US Open 2016 with Stan Wawrinka.
Novak, Roger and Rafa have all won three of the last nine Grand Slams and it is impossible to say who will end this incredible run and conquer one of the biggest trophies while being in the 20s. This was the 30th Grand Slam crown for the players who turned 30 and it is incredible to think that ten of those have come in two and a half years, with the other 20 spread between 1968 Roland Garros and 2015 Wimbledon! Between Wimbledon 1972 and Australian Open 2015, there were only ten 30&over winners as it was almost impossible to beat good youngsters or the players in their prime (the late 20s).
That all changed with Federer Nadal, Djokovic and Wawrinka, all capable of delivering their best tennis well after they turned 30 and to leave the younger rivals behind over and over again. Djokovic and Nadal played on a much higher level than the rest of the field in Melbourne and we should expect the same in Paris as well, with the 11th consecutive Grand Slam title for the veterans standing as almost a done deal.
Between 1968-1972, three players had won nine Grand Slam titles after turning 30, with Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver sharing the first eight before Andres Gimeno took the Roland Garros in 1972 at the age of 34, standing as the oldest champion in Paris and overall at Majors before Roger Federer managed to surpass him at the Australian Open 2017! Rosewall was already 33 when the Open era started but that was hardly an obstacle for him, winning Roland Garros in 1968 and the US Open in 1970 to become by far the oldest winner in New York at the age of 35.
Like that wasn't enough, he conquered the Australian Open crowns in 1971 and 1972, the last one at the age of 37, standing as the oldest winner at the home Major and in the Open era in general. After four straight years with 30&over Grand Slam champions, we had to wait until 1975 to see the newest addition to our list, with John Newcombe lifting the crown in Australia and Arthur Ashe who conquered Wimbledon at the age of 31 years and 11 months. The American did enough to remain the oldest champion in the temple of tennis until 2017 when Federer raised the bar for another four years, going all the way just before turning 36!
Jimmy Connors managed to win his last US Open titles in 1982 and 1983 just after the 30th and the 31st birthdays, standing as the only 30&over Grand Slam champion between 1976-1989! Andres Gomez joined him seven years later at Roland Garros as the first player from this age group who lifted the trophy in Paris after 18 years before it all stopped again for almost a decade, as it was impossible to beat the young guns born in the early 70s. For more than 20 years (between 1976-1997) Connors and Gomez were the only Major champions after turning 30 and it was Petr Korda who had joined the list in Melbourne 1998, just a few days after celebrating the 30th birthday.
Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras took charge in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and Andre was the oldest winner since 1972 when he conquered his eighth and last Grand Slam title in Melbourne in 2003 at the age of 32 years and eight months. In the next nine years, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic were the dominant figures on the Tour and the veterans stood no chance against them, having to wait for Roger to turn 30 to add another player to this article when he claimed the Wimbledon crown in 2012, just before turning 31.
For the last five seasons (matching the performance between 1986-72), there was at least one 30&over Major champion and it all started with Stan Wawrinka who grabbed the first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros 2015 just after turning 30, the first player to do so in Paris in 15 years! A year later the Swiss went on to conquer the US Open as well, becoming the first 30&over player with two back-to-back titles on this list since Jimmy Connors in the early 80s and also the oldest winner in New York since Ken Rosewall 36 years ago!
Since then, every Grand Slam crown has finished in the hands of the veterans, with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic sharing all nine Major tournaments in 2017, 2018 and 2019 (three for each), just like they did in good old times. Roger had become the first 35-year-old champion in three and a half decades when he won the Australian Open in 2017, followed by Rafael Nadal who celebrated the 31st birthday with the title in Paris, standing as the oldest Roland Garros champion since Gimeno in 1972!
As we already said, Roger had won Wimbledon as by far the oldest player in the Open era a few weeks later and Rafa completed a perfect year for those two with the trophy in New York, making it the first season since 1969 with four 30&over champions! 2018 brought nothing new regarding the players' age, with Federer pushing the limits again in Melbourne to celebrate the title at the age of 36, standing just behind Rosewall who performed 35 years before Roger in a completely different sport. In Paris, Nadal had become only the third Roland Garros champion in the Open era who turned 32 after Rosewall and Gimeno decades ago and it was all about Novak at the last two Majors of the season.
Novak had become the 14th 30&over Grand Slam champion in the Open era and also the oldest who bundled the titles at Wimbledon and the US Open, passing Rod Laver who did that at 30 almost 50 years ago back in 1969! Novak had become the third-oldest Wimbledon champion after Federer and Ashe, the third-oldest US Open winner and he is now the fourth-oldest Australian Open champion behind Rosewall, Federer and Agassi. With the current form of Novak Djokovic and his amazing consistency at all four Majors, it will be hard to stop the Serb in three other big tournaments in 2019, with Rafael Nadal waiting for Roland Garros to extend his dominance on clay once again. Also, Roger Federer certainly wants to fight for Grand Slam titles again after a poor run after the last year's Australian Open and it is hard to imagine this fantastic 30&over players streak will end anytime soon.
30&over Grand Slam champions in the Open era:
1968 Roland Garros - Ken Rosewall (33y 7m) 1969 Australian Open - Rod Lavel (30y 5m) 1969 Roland Garros - Rod Laver (30y 9m) 1969 Wimbledon - Rod Laver (30y 10m) 1969 US Open - Rod Laver (31y 1m) 1970 US Open - Ken Rosewall (35y 10m) 1971 Australian Open - Ken Rosewall (36y 2m) 1972 Australian Open - Ken Rosewall (37y 2m) 1972 Roland Garros - Andres Gimeno (34y 10m) 1975 Australian Open - John Newcombe (30y 7m) 1975 Wimbledon - Arthur Ashe (31y 11m) 1982 US Open - Jimmy Connors (30y) 1983 US Open - Jimmy Connors (31y) 1990 Roland Garros - Andres Gomez (30y 3m) 1998 Australian Open - Petr Korda (30y) 2001 Australian Open - Andre Agassi (30y 8m) 2002 US Open - Pete Sampras (31y) 2003 Australian Open - Andre Agassi (32y 8m) 2012 Wimbledon - Roger Federer (30y 11m) 2015 Roland Garros - Stan Wawrinka (30y 2m) 2016 US Open - Stan Wawrinka (31y 5m) 2017 Australian Open - Roger Federer (35y 5m) 2017 Roland Garros - Rafael Nadal (31y) 2017 Wimbledon - Roger Federer (35y 11m) 2017 US Open - Rafael Nadal (31y 3m) 2018 Australian Open - Roger Federer (36y 5m) 2018 Roland Garros - Rafael Nadal (32y) 2018 Wimbledon - Novak Djokovic (31y 1m) 2018 US Open - Novak Djokovic (31y 3m) 2019 Australian Open - Novak Djokovic (31y 8m)
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2FXHciu
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