By José Romero Churio
On more than one occasion I have stated that I am passionate about watching professional tennis play, especially men’s singles competition. Last Sunday, January 28, in Melbourne, Australia, the first Grand Slam of the four that are held in the world each year ended, which I enjoy with immeasurable pleasure regardless of the time at which the matches are played.
Due to what happened in the 2024 Australian tournament, I consider that the hegemony of the three greats of world tennis is ending, which began in the 21st century with the Swiss, Roger Federer (already retired from tennis competition), who has the record. of 103 titles won, among which, 20 Grand Slams (8 Wimbledon, 6 Australian Open, 5 US Open and a Roland Garros, in addition, winner of the Davis Cup, Laver Cup, Hopman Cup, Olympic gold and silver medals); The Spanish Rafael Nadal has triumphed in 92 ATP tournaments, of which 22 Grand Slam victories, including 14 Roland Garros, therefore, classified as king of the clay; He has also won Davis Cup, Laver Cup and Olympic gold medals.
The third greatest in world tennis is Novak Djokovic, winner of 98 ATP titles, champion of 24 Grand Slams, 10 times the Australian Open, the last one he won last year, the other 14 are 7 Wimbledon, 4 US Open and 3 Roland Garros. He is also the winner of the different cups already mentioned and an Olympic bronze medal. Of the three, Djokovic is the one who has held the No. 1 ranking in the ATP ranking for the longest time.
It seems that the future of men’s singles professional tennis will be in the hands of the generation of tennis players born in the 21st century, because currently there are several prominent young people, among whom the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz stands out, who at 20 years old has already won 12 ATP titles. (two Grand Slams -US Open 2022 and Wimbledon 2023-, 4 Masters 1000, 4 Masters 500 and 2 Masters 250), for which he managed to occupy position 1 in the ATP ranking for several weeks, being the youngest tennis player to climb the pinnacle of world professional tennis. The other standout is the Italian Jannik Sinner, who defeated world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinal of the last Australian Open and, finally, dominated Daniil Medvedev in 5 sets, with a spectacular comeback from 2 sets down. Medvedev won the 2021 US Open against Djokovic, which took him to reach No. 1 in the ATP ranking for a short time, and in his 27 years he has won 20 titles, therefore, he is currently one of the most difficult tennis players to beat. .
Winning a Grand Slam, the top trophy in world tennis, is a very difficult mission, because winning five-set matches can last a long time. Of course, Rodrigo José Morón explained it, in his EL PILÓN column, titled “John Isner deserved a better sports career,” published last Saturday, January 27. Therefore, they changed the rules of this competition for the matches that are defined in the fifth set. My wish is to continue watching excellent tennis, in which the current protagonists strive to surpass previous records.