Djokovic-Nadal-Federer, the end of a legendary streak almost twenty-four years later

Everything has a beginning and everything has a point. To know if this is continued or final, the next few months will tell. But for the moment, This Monday one of the most incredible streaks that the members of the legendary ‘Big 3’ have combined in their respective sports careers: For the first time in the last twenty-four years there is not at least one name among Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the top-10 of the ATP rankings.

He Serbianafter his defeat in the first round of the US Open against Mariano Navone, has dropped from fifth to twelfth positionsince he was defending last year’s semifinals against Carlos Alcaraz. This means that he leaves the top-10 for the first time since Monday, July 9, 2018, the second of the two weeks in a row in which he was twenty-first in the ranking: days later he won Wimbledon to return to the top-10.

In short, Djokovic’s streak of eight years, two months and five days uninterrupted in the top-10 ends. But this is greater if a joint streak is established for the Serbian and his two great generation companions, Federer and Nadal: there was no ATP top-10 without any of the three players since October 7, 2002, a week before the definitive emergence of the Swiss.

Federer reached the top-10 for the first time on May 20, 2002. Since then he has moved around it, in some weeks in and in others out. But on October 14, 2002 he returned and did not leave again until November 7, 2016.. He was out until January 23, 2017 and returned on January 30, 2017 until October 11, 2021. He left again on October 18, 2021 to end his legend.

For its part, Nadal broke into the top-10 on April 25, 2005. His last week in it was March 13, 2023. He left on March 20, 2023 after almost eighteen uninterrupted years and was unable to return, at the end of his career with many physical problems.

As to Djokovic entered the top-10 on March 19, 2007. It came out on November 6, 2017, but returned on July 16, 2018 and has not come out again until this Monday, September 14, 2026.

This implies that, since October 14, 2002, at least one of the three players had been among the list of the ten best players in the world. It has been twenty-three years and eleven months with at least one of the names Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic among the best on the planet.

They are, in total, 968 weeks of Roger Federer in the top-10 of the world ranking. Rafa Nadal retired with 912 and Novak Djokovic falls from the top ten list when sum 959. The Swiss is the leader in this statistic, with the Serbian second and the Spaniard third. Far behind are Jimmy Connors’ 816 weeks and Andre Agassi’s 748, which close the top-5.

The future will tell if ‘Nole’ can return among the best. For the moment, this Monday there has been which is perhaps the biggest warning that a huge part of tennis history is beginning to put an end to past records that mark its legend.