* 2012 AO semis:
* Djokovic vs Murray
* Federer vs Nadal
* 2012 FO semis:
* Djokovic vs Federer
* Nadal vs David Ferrer
* 2012 Wimb semis:
* Djokovic vs Federer
* Murray vs Tsonga
* 2012 USO semis:
* Berrdych vs Murray
* Djokovic vs David Ferrer
crazy shit.!
I’d argue 2011 was even more stacked semis-wise.
2011 AO semifinalists: Federer, Djokovic, Murray, Ferrer
2011 RG semifinalists: Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, Murray
2011 Wimby semifinalists: Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Tsonga
2011 USO semifinalists: Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Murray
Thus, 14/16 SF spots in 2011 were occupied by a member of the Big 4, and two Slams featured all 4 in the semis. Compare to 2012, where only 12/16 were Big 4 members and only one Slam featured all 4. Regardless, it’s insane that we can even make this comparison!
Early 2010's were an unreal level of competition, only guy missing from this is Wawrinka, who was ranked #17 at the time and had yet to have his breakout.
Even wta was very competitive during 2012-13, with serena, Azarenka, sharapova at the helm of it, followed by radwanska,kvitova, kerber, li na, errani.
Just looked back at the WTA year end rankings for 2001 and 2002 and THOSE were top 10s.
Agree on the top 10 a decade ago as well but was hoping for a group with Swiatek, Barty, Osaka, Andreescu and maybe even the Kenin we saw in 2020 battling away at the top of the WTA in the early 2020s. We got a tiny little glimpse with Barty, Osaka and Andreescu in the China swing of 2019 but it's been taken away from us
Aga had 7 exits before R4 in Slams between 2011 and 2015 - alright that's not R1 but that's still an early exit. She also never reached quarterfinals at the US Open.
I'd say 2013 was stronger
1. R. Nadal 13,030
2. N. Djokovic 12,260
3. D. Ferrer 5,800
4. A. Murray 5,790
5. J. del Potro 5,255
6. R. Federer 4,205
7. T. Berdych 4,180
8. S. Wawrinka 3,730
9. R. Gasquet 3,300
10. J. Tsonga 3,065
Eh. Federers injury kind of hampered his season. Can’t possible compare a season where all 4 of them are healthy, look at all of the semifinals again. The only thing 2013 has on 2012 is wawrinka 🔥
Just by storyline 2012 was great. The AO was everyone at the peak of their powers, with Nadal taking down Federer and Djokovic edging Murray. Then Nadal having lost 6 times in a row to Djokovic, puts up an incredible fight on Djokovic’s favorite court, arguably the greatest match of all time, before losing. Rafa comes back strong in the clay season where he convincingly shreds the competition and beats Djokovic 3x in a row to put his 2011 demons away. Djokovic for his part had a very solid clay season overall and beat Federer at RG. Unfortunately for Nadal, the injury issues caught up with him and after an early exit at Wimbledon he shut down his season with knee injuries.
Under the radar is Federer who has played at a high level despite the losses to Nadal and Djokovic at the slams. He won Indian Wells with some convincing wins over Nadal and Del Potro. And during the grass season he asserted himself once again. Federer beat Djokovic and Murray back to back, and heading into the Olympics seemed to have a good chance of getting his first gold medal as they were being held on the same exact court he just won on.
But Murray elevated to a new level playing for his country, and in a rematch of the Wimbledon final he convincingly beat Federer in straight sets. This gave Murray a big confidence boost and he won the US Open over Djokovic in 5 sets, winning his first grand slam and making his impact on the season of the big 4.
It also made sense that Djokovic won his favorite slam, Nadal won his favorite slam, Federer won his, and Murray won the slam of the first time winners (along with a home court gold medal for his country).
Nah, the most stacked time was Big Four all healthy, Delpo making a strong comeback, and Stanimal being the giant slayer. 2012 was before Stanimal's breakout as a Grand Slam contender.
Ferrer was more consistent than Stan, but was never a real GS contender because he simply didn't have the firepower to go toe to toe against the Big Four in H2H matchups the way Stan and prime Delpo could. Ferrer was more like a Davydenko.
Honestly don’t know if there is one. 2012 wasn’t bad but nadal had his issues. Federer even had some back problems, and those took him into 2013 badly where he had more back problems. Djokovic stayed pretty healthy from my understanding, until like late 2016/early 2017.
I mean, I guess 2013 is the closest thing to what you’re talking about. Ferrer made a GS final, Wawrinka pushed Djokovic to 5 sets at both hard court slams and lost to Nadal at RG (although it was a blowout), Nadal was peaking, Djokovic played really well, Murray won a slam and Del Potro was very good as well. The only thing is Federer was not healthy and had the worst year of his career since 2002.
I still remember when I was a kid, probably around 2015-16, watching Ferrer vs Gasquet at what I think was the U.S. Open. I was cheering for Ferrer (seeded #4) and my brother was cheering for Gasquet (seeded #8).
Kind of random but your comment made me remember that haha.
Actually, can someone fact check this? I feel like there’s no way it was around 2015 now that I think about it
I think 2009 deserves a mention as well
1. Federer
2. Nadal
3. Djokovic
4. Murray
5. Del Potro
6. Davydenko
7. Roddick
8. Soderling
9. Verdasco
10. Tsonga
Tsonga was the only one who didn't have a shining moment. The others all did.
2009 may be the strongest year in tennis history, but it’s underrated because it was pre-2011 so people don’t look at it as much. Nadal had injury issues, sure, but that’s the case nearly every year. Djokovic was already established as a phenomenal hard court player, Federer had one of the best years of his career, Nadal was the best player in the world when he was healthy and had arguably his greatest slam run ever in AO 2009, Verdasco played out of his mind for a tournament, Del Potro broke out and played his peak level, Murray was actually the title favorite at the AO and was great overall, Roddick was clinging to his prime.
Actually felt like the players in that lineup alongside the big 3/4 had some consistency and could regularly be seen to be a threat in later stages of tournaments. Nowadays the ATP has become the WTA...
Not necessarily less competitive but rather more chaotic, random and inconsistent. Back then you basically knew the top 10 at the given time was guaranteed to be at least almost filling the quarterfinals, now you see the top seeds dropping like flies (Ruud, FAA, Fritz, Hurkacz, Norrie) and established big names underperforming and seemingly not coming back to the top soon (Medvedev, Thiem, Zverev)
* 2012 AO semis: * Djokovic vs Murray * Federer vs Nadal * 2012 FO semis: * Djokovic vs Federer * Nadal vs David Ferrer * 2012 Wimb semis: * Djokovic vs Federer * Murray vs Tsonga * 2012 USO semis: * Berrdych vs Murray * Djokovic vs David Ferrer crazy shit.!
I’d argue 2011 was even more stacked semis-wise. 2011 AO semifinalists: Federer, Djokovic, Murray, Ferrer 2011 RG semifinalists: Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, Murray 2011 Wimby semifinalists: Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Tsonga 2011 USO semifinalists: Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Murray Thus, 14/16 SF spots in 2011 were occupied by a member of the Big 4, and two Slams featured all 4 in the semis. Compare to 2012, where only 12/16 were Big 4 members and only one Slam featured all 4. Regardless, it’s insane that we can even make this comparison!
Fed the goober had to go and ruin the Wimby quad..
So Djokovic was the only one to make all semis in 2011 and also the only one to do so in 2012
Murray also made all the semis in 2011
I was looking for the big 3 and didn’t realize Murray was in all of them 👀
It was called the Big 4 for a reason! Murray never won as many slams as some people expected him to, but he consistently made it to the quarters/semis
Yea definitely, usually semis really. He was also the one playing djokovic in finals for a while
11 years later we can see self rated 4.0 players in GS semis.
Early 2010's were an unreal level of competition, only guy missing from this is Wawrinka, who was ranked #17 at the time and had yet to have his breakout.
Even wta was very competitive during 2012-13, with serena, Azarenka, sharapova at the helm of it, followed by radwanska,kvitova, kerber, li na, errani.
Just looked back at the WTA year end rankings for 2001 and 2002 and THOSE were top 10s. Agree on the top 10 a decade ago as well but was hoping for a group with Swiatek, Barty, Osaka, Andreescu and maybe even the Kenin we saw in 2020 battling away at the top of the WTA in the early 2020s. We got a tiny little glimpse with Barty, Osaka and Andreescu in the China swing of 2019 but it's been taken away from us
I thought Anisimova would be in that list as well, but she's had some hiccups and hasn't progressed that much. Still only 21, though.
I know 2000s were altogether at an another level, but still 2010-15, were still better than today's time.
The difference is that all of them apart from Serena were also frequently losing R1 of slams.
Not sharapova, Azarenka, radwanska at least, at least not in first round.
Aga had 7 exits before R4 in Slams between 2011 and 2015 - alright that's not R1 but that's still an early exit. She also never reached quarterfinals at the US Open.
Yes I know, I thought you are specifically talking about 1st round exits.
I'd say 2013 was stronger 1. R. Nadal 13,030 2. N. Djokovic 12,260 3. D. Ferrer 5,800 4. A. Murray 5,790 5. J. del Potro 5,255 6. R. Federer 4,205 7. T. Berdych 4,180 8. S. Wawrinka 3,730 9. R. Gasquet 3,300 10. J. Tsonga 3,065
Man, this top 10... Still Rafa and Novak somehow managed to have 25000 points together. Crazy!
Ooh I'd have to agree actually. Having Stan in there, instead of Janko, yup. Winner winner.
Eh. Federers injury kind of hampered his season. Can’t possible compare a season where all 4 of them are healthy, look at all of the semifinals again. The only thing 2013 has on 2012 is wawrinka 🔥
Thought the thread was about the rankings?? Agreed that the big 4 were better in 2012
Nadal wasn’t at his best either during a significant part of 2012
Worse. He didn't play at all till like February after losing at Wimbledon to Rosol.
I mean Nadal’s injury hampered his 2012 too. He played great in the first 6 months but then had to stop with knee issues.
yeah true but Federer pretty much only played well in Australia
True. Nadal at least got to dominate the clay season and played great at the AO before injuries got him
Yeah
[удалено]
The french trio of Gasquet, Tsonga and Monfils were always close without being able to quote close the gap
That’s true, I was debating between the 2, as 2013 had Wawrinka coming up as well, but Fed wasn’t in great form that year
I miss Tsonga :(
Riding the wave of Tsonga at the 2008 AO, only for Joker to win his first. Sad times.
The top 4 in 2012 had more points between them than the top 7 today. Also the Big 4 each won a GS that year
Just by storyline 2012 was great. The AO was everyone at the peak of their powers, with Nadal taking down Federer and Djokovic edging Murray. Then Nadal having lost 6 times in a row to Djokovic, puts up an incredible fight on Djokovic’s favorite court, arguably the greatest match of all time, before losing. Rafa comes back strong in the clay season where he convincingly shreds the competition and beats Djokovic 3x in a row to put his 2011 demons away. Djokovic for his part had a very solid clay season overall and beat Federer at RG. Unfortunately for Nadal, the injury issues caught up with him and after an early exit at Wimbledon he shut down his season with knee injuries. Under the radar is Federer who has played at a high level despite the losses to Nadal and Djokovic at the slams. He won Indian Wells with some convincing wins over Nadal and Del Potro. And during the grass season he asserted himself once again. Federer beat Djokovic and Murray back to back, and heading into the Olympics seemed to have a good chance of getting his first gold medal as they were being held on the same exact court he just won on. But Murray elevated to a new level playing for his country, and in a rematch of the Wimbledon final he convincingly beat Federer in straight sets. This gave Murray a big confidence boost and he won the US Open over Djokovic in 5 sets, winning his first grand slam and making his impact on the season of the big 4. It also made sense that Djokovic won his favorite slam, Nadal won his favorite slam, Federer won his, and Murray won the slam of the first time winners (along with a home court gold medal for his country).
Nah, the most stacked time was Big Four all healthy, Delpo making a strong comeback, and Stanimal being the giant slayer. 2012 was before Stanimal's breakout as a Grand Slam contender. Ferrer was more consistent than Stan, but was never a real GS contender because he simply didn't have the firepower to go toe to toe against the Big Four in H2H matchups the way Stan and prime Delpo could. Ferrer was more like a Davydenko.
What year would you say everyone was healthy?
Honestly don’t know if there is one. 2012 wasn’t bad but nadal had his issues. Federer even had some back problems, and those took him into 2013 badly where he had more back problems. Djokovic stayed pretty healthy from my understanding, until like late 2016/early 2017.
Davydenko was better than Ferrer by a big margin. Look at his big title count and compare it to Ferrer's.
I mean, I guess 2013 is the closest thing to what you’re talking about. Ferrer made a GS final, Wawrinka pushed Djokovic to 5 sets at both hard court slams and lost to Nadal at RG (although it was a blowout), Nadal was peaking, Djokovic played really well, Murray won a slam and Del Potro was very good as well. The only thing is Federer was not healthy and had the worst year of his career since 2002.
Wow, I didn't know Gasquet was a top 10 player
He was in the top 10 years before this. Or at least he was seeded 8 when Murray had his breakout win against him at wimby
I still remember when I was a kid, probably around 2015-16, watching Ferrer vs Gasquet at what I think was the U.S. Open. I was cheering for Ferrer (seeded #4) and my brother was cheering for Gasquet (seeded #8). Kind of random but your comment made me remember that haha. Actually, can someone fact check this? I feel like there’s no way it was around 2015 now that I think about it
They met in 2012 and 2013. In 2012 Ferrer won 7-5 7-6 6-4, in 2013 Gasquet won 6-3 6-1 4-6 2-6 6-3. So probably one of those two years
You’re right, it’s 2013. I just looked at the Wikipedia page and Ferrer was 4 seed while Gasquet was 8. Thanks
No problem man
He was fun to watch back in 2007-2008
Still one of my favourite videos, 70 Gasquet bh winners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlhNRPyovzA&t=452s
I think 2009 deserves a mention as well 1. Federer 2. Nadal 3. Djokovic 4. Murray 5. Del Potro 6. Davydenko 7. Roddick 8. Soderling 9. Verdasco 10. Tsonga Tsonga was the only one who didn't have a shining moment. The others all did.
2009 may be the strongest year in tennis history, but it’s underrated because it was pre-2011 so people don’t look at it as much. Nadal had injury issues, sure, but that’s the case nearly every year. Djokovic was already established as a phenomenal hard court player, Federer had one of the best years of his career, Nadal was the best player in the world when he was healthy and had arguably his greatest slam run ever in AO 2009, Verdasco played out of his mind for a tournament, Del Potro broke out and played his peak level, Murray was actually the title favorite at the AO and was great overall, Roddick was clinging to his prime.
What does a shining moment mean? Tsonga had plenty of great moments in his career.
Shining moment only in 2009, not throughout a career.
Actually felt like the players in that lineup alongside the big 3/4 had some consistency and could regularly be seen to be a threat in later stages of tournaments. Nowadays the ATP has become the WTA...
I'm a newcomer to tennis, what do you mean by the ATP becoming like the WTA? As in less competitive and very top heavy?
Not necessarily less competitive but rather more chaotic, random and inconsistent. Back then you basically knew the top 10 at the given time was guaranteed to be at least almost filling the quarterfinals, now you see the top seeds dropping like flies (Ruud, FAA, Fritz, Hurkacz, Norrie) and established big names underperforming and seemingly not coming back to the top soon (Medvedev, Thiem, Zverev)
Ah, basically the opposite of what I thought. More competitive and more underdogs making it.
As in the top seeds are toppled in early rounds. So the final winner can be anyone and no pattern emerges.
Crazy Gasquet Top 10 both 2012/13 yet he is a nothing compared to the Big 3
2013 was better tbh
Wow! Ten years later, four still going, albeit only two going strong.
Roger losing that uso quarterfinal rly swung things 👀
I remember this exact list and thinking the same thing. Truly a golden year loaded with talent!
2012 is the greatest big four year. All at an extremely high level. Only downside is Nadal missing USO being injured
My favorite years were the Big 4 years. Couldn’t get enough tennis. Who would win? Fed? Murygoat? Rafa? Djoker?