There's tennis outside the Big Three

If we start counting in each Grand slam from the first time it was won by one of the three members of the Big three, we met with a total of 66 tournaments in which we only read nine names other than Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Is about Stan wawrinka, on three occasions; Andy Murray, in two; Marat Safin, Juan Martin del Potro, Marin cilic and the newly released Dominic Thiem. If we dig a little into those big ones, another equally overwhelming data appears. There were only four finals out of 66 without any member of the star trio: Safin-Hewitt in Australia 2005, Murray-Raonic at Wimbledon 2013, Cilic-Nishikori at the US Open 2014 and, finally, Thiem-Zverev Sunday in New York. The dominance of the Big Three is known, but if it is translated into data it is even more impressive. That is why they dominate the historical ranking of the greats: Federer (20), Nadal (19) and Djokovic (17). That is why they fight for the symbolic crown of the best tennis player of all time. And that is why the four hour and two minute battle of Thiem and Zverev takes on a greater dimension.

The final of the US Open had all the ingredients expected of tennis: good game, emotion, agony … Thiem rallied the first two sets to Alexander Zverev, broke the German's serve when he served with 5-3 for the title, won in a tie break final without being able to walk… It was an epic victory, which could have gone either way. If there is some kind of universal justice, Sunday tipped the balance to the right side, because the Austrian had already played three other Grand Slam finals, with two defeats against Nadal and one against Djokovic. It was his turn. It is true that this great was different due to the resignation of Nadal, due to Federer's injury, due to the disqualification of Djokovic … Despite everything he taught us one thing: there is tennis beyond the Big Three.