Tennis Stats for The Big Four

The Wimbledon 2015 Final saw Novak end Roger's dream of an eighth Wimbledon title, and in the process claiming his 3rd  SW19  title and his 9th Grand Slam in total. This puts him at 5 on the all time list of Open Era champions. List of players with most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era: Rank Player Total 1   Roger Federer 17 2   Pete Sampras 14   Rafael Nadal 14 4   Björn Borg 11 5   Novak Djokovic 9 The first two sets were very close, with the two opposing styles producing some great tennis. It was really in the third set where the scientific approach from Novak began to wear down the Federer challenge. It was clear that Novak's consistency and precision took it's toll on Roger physically but more import...

Wimbledon 2015 has produced a repeat of the 2014 Final with Roger Federer taking on the World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. Last year Djokovic took the win with a display of supreme athleticism and consistency in a 5 set classic (6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4). Art v Science? Last month I attended the Men's Final at Roland Garros when the other top Swiss Stan Wawrinka defeated Novak in 4 sets. This was one of those occasions when the line between art and science was evidently clear. Stan (the artist) was unpredictable and every shot seemed to be a blur between instincts and creativity. Some were winners and some were.. well, not winners. Novak (the scientist) on the other hand was predictable, calculated, measured, analytical, supremely athletic etc. The issue for Novak was that his meticulous conditioning, skills and preparation could never prepare him for the artist at his best. The artist produces moments of genius, moments you can't prepare for in training as they happen in an instant...

After another amazing Wimbledon Final yesterday, the question this tournament was are we seeing the end of the Big Four? Well two of the 'Big Four' just played out one of the greatest 5 set Wimbledon Finals in recent memory. It's worth taking a look at the Grand Slam champions since 2003. That year saw Federer win his maiden slam at Wimbledon when he defeated Mark Philippoussis, 7–6, 6–2, 7–6. Fast forward to the current day and 44 Grand Slam tournaments later, the breakdown (Big Four only) is as follows: Roger Feder: 25 Finals, 17 Wins Rafael Nadal: 20 Finals, 14 Wins Novak Djokovic: 14 Finals, 7 Wins Andy Murray: 7 Finals, 2 Wins Between these guys they have won 40 of the past 45 Grand Slams spanning 11 years. However, the Big Four wasn't truly born until 2008 when Djokovic won the Australian and Murray was a runner-up at the US Open that year to Federer. It was the Big One (Federer), then Big Two (add Nadal) and then Big Four. 2003  Andre Agassi  (8/8)...