'Roger Federer is stressful to play against but...', says French player

2020 was a very strange and difficult to read season for all players, including the Big 3. Novak Djokovic started very strong by winning the ATP Cup, the Australian Open and the Dubai tournament, confirming himself in excellent shape even after the suspension. The Serbian phenomenon has won the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati and Rome, but has some regrets about the performance of the US Open and Roland Garros. Rafael Nadal instead focused all his energies on Roland Garros, where he won the title without losing even a set, equaling Roger Federer's record of 20 Grand Slams. The Swiss, for his part, only played in the Australian Open this year, before undergoing surgery twice on his knee, giving the appointment for 2021. In a recent interview with L'Equipe, Gilles Simon expressed some considerations interesting about the strength and longevity of the three sacred monsters of the male circuit.

Simon on the Big 3

“The strongest is Novak Djokovic,” Gilles Simon said. “He’s stronger than the two others. To me, he’s the most complete player with the least weaknesses and he will be the hardest to beat. Rafael Nadal is extremely strong as well and extremely difficult to beat,” Simon added. “I think he is the strongest on clay, the biggest challenge on the surface, especially in Roland Garros. What he did was unreal. And Roger Federer is the same. He is stressful to play against but very pleasant to watch," Simon concluded. The Big Three are the top three players in terms of Grand Slam men's singles titles won, as well as the top three male players in terms of Major finals reached. Federer has reached 31 finals, Nadal 28, and Djokovic 27. They are the only three men to win eight or more singles titles at the same Grand Slam tournament: Nadal with 13 French Open titles, Federer with eight Wimbledon titles, and Djokovic with eight Australian Open titles. (On the women's side, Martina Navratilova won nine times at Wimbledon, while Molla Mallory won eight US Championships, a predecessor of the US Open.) They are the only men to have won consecutive Grand Slam titles since Andre Agassi in the 1999 US Open and 2000 Australian Open, Nadal achieving this twice, Djokovic thrice, and Federer five times. Djokovic is busy this week in the prestigious ATP 500 in Vienna, aware that he can seal his first ATP position at least until the beginning of 2021. Nadal will return to the field in Paris-Bercy, where he has never won even once. The two will meet again at the ATP Finals in London, in what will be the last edition at the O2 Arena.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3e5KjD3