January 30, 2022 could be remembered as the day Rafa Nadal moved ahead of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in the Grand Slam title table. If the Spaniard defeats Daniil Medvedev this Sunday in the final of the Australian Open, he will undo the tie at 20 that he maintains with the Serbian and the Swiss, great dominators of the men’s circuit in the last 20 years, with 60 trophies between the three in 73 tournaments. The 13 who ‘left’ their rivals were captured by Andy Murray (3), Stan Wawrinka (3), Andy Roddick, Gastón Gaudio, Marat Safin, Juan Martín del Potro, Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev.
Federer was the first to open his private account at Wimbledon 2003 and Nadal joined the fight at Roland Garros 2005. It was not until the Australian Open 2008 when Djokovic debuted his record with several trophies behind Roger and Rafa. In February 2018, after the last Oceanic Open that the Swiss won, the dispute was like this: Federer 20, Nadal 16, Djokovic 12. Since then, the Spaniard and the Serbian have won 12 of the last 14 majors, with a spectacular acceleration from Novak, who in this period has garnered eight (three in Australia, three in London, one in Paris and one in New York) to four from Rafa (three on French clay and one on American hard court), while that Roger has been left in the dry dock and with options to add more, due to his knee problems. He is not expected until Wimbledon. Noles’ contest this year in the most important championships is unknown due to his refusal to be vaccinated, which does not guarantee participation in Roland Garros, although he could ‘sneak in’ due to a change in state regulations, nor in the US Open.
In the last four years, only Thiem and Medvedev, in the American majors of 2020 and 2021, have been able to interfere in the dominance of the Djokovic-Nadal duopoly, although the man from Manaco did not compete in either of these two editions and is the one with the next clearest opportunity to continue adding, in his beloved Bologna Forest.