Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are ridiculously good, but are the Big 3 better than every other era in tennis history?

End of an era?

Is the Big 3's time winding down?

As is usually the norm, younger players replace older ones. Generally, players start to think about retirement once they cross 30 due to the wear and tear of the professional tour. Retirement comes knocking on the door when they can no longer match the younger players on a consistent basis.

Borg was an exception as he retired at 26 due to burnout. Connors retired at 44, but did not win any title in the last 7 years of his career. Edberg and Courier retired at 30 each, Becker and Sampras at 32, McEnroe at 33, Lendl at 34, and Agassi at 36. At the time of their retirement none of these players were dominating the sport as they once did.

The Big 3 are all in their 30s. Nadal is 31 and Djokovic is 30, while Roger Federer is an ancient 36. And yet, even as of today, only Murray and Wawrinka have been able to challenge the Big 3 on a consistent basis. Many experts club Murray with the Big 3 and call them the Big 4. With Stan Wawrinka, it becomes the Big 5.

Rather than being pushed out by the next generation of players, the Big 5 are being pushed out by injuries. Federer and Nadal were out with injury in 2016 but made stunning comebacks in 2017. Djokovic, Murray, and Wawrinka were all injured in 2017, with Nadal getting injured again near the end of 2017.

Murray had a hip operation and may not be the same again. Djokovic had a procedure on his elbow and it remains to be seen whether he can come back at the same level as before. Wawrinka has been a pale shade of his former self after his knee operation. Nadal has continuing knee and leg problems, while Federer has a sensitive back.

Keeping in mind all these physical problems, is it right to say that the era of the Big 3, 4, 5 is over? We did see a return of the Fedal duopoly in 2017 but we'll have to wait and see if the group can resume their prior dominance.

(Clockwise, from upper left) Grigor Dimitrov, Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem and Nick Kyrgios

The much touted NextGen has been on the sidelines for some time now. Grigor Dimitrov, Nick Kyrgios, Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem and others have been knocking on the door for a while now. Although they have won tournaments sporadically and beaten the Big 3, their consistency on the big stage has been found wanting.

These young guns are still touted to be the players that will take over from the Big 3, but so far they have not been able to take advantage of the top dogs' age and injuries.

All that said, time is catching up with the greats, and some time in the future we will bid them a sad farewell. Whether they are pushed out unwillingly or they hang up their rackets on their own terms, they have already proven that they are the most dominant group of players to ever play the game of tennis.

It will be some time before we see a group of that caliber again, if ever.