Casper Ruud in disbelief over Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer & Novak Djokovic’s ‘20 years of domination’: "I just don’t understand how it’s possible”

Casper Ruud pondered over Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic's consistent dominance of 20 years, questioning how it was even possible. The Norwegian was in awe of the Big 3 for maintaining their discipline without fail and toppling opponents over different eras.

The Big 3 dominated the tennis world for over two decades. At least one of the three members won a Grand Slam from 2003 to 2023. The three men have won a combined 66 Grand Slams (Djokovic 24, Nadal 22, and Federer 20) and consistently held the top spot in the rankings. The three men battled one another in 150 matches.

The three were significantly ahead of the rest of their contemporaries. Some players came close to their level, like Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka, but they couldn't maintain the same level of consistency as these three men.

In a recent episode of the Nothin Major podcast, hosted by Steve Johnson, Sam Querrey, Jack Sock, and John Isner, Casper Ruud expressed his disbelief over how Nadal, Djokovic, and Federer had managed to be the creme de la creme of the tennis world for over 17-18 years.

He couldn't comprehend how the Big 3 maintained their discipline and won about 70 matches almost every year. He called their era 'pure domination'.

“I’ve understood how crazy it is from Rafa, Roger, and Novak… that they performed every single year for like 17, 18 years. They’ve been so good. How have they been able to keep the motivation up? How they’ve been able to be strict with themselves… How have they been able to win like 70 matches every year? Year in, year out. I just don’t understand how it’s possible. It’s one thing to do it 3, 4, or 5 years. But for them it’s been almost 20 years of pure domination.”

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"Rafael Nadal's going to be out there until he dies" - Casper Ruud recounts his experience of playing the Spaniard and Novak Djokovic in consecutive French Open finals

Casper Ruud embraces Rafael Nadal after the 2022 French Open final (Source: Getty)

In the same episode, Casper Ruud also talked about his experiences playing Rafael Nadal, who was going for a record 22nd Major, and Novak Djokovic, going for a record 23rd Major in the consecutive French Open finals.

"The two finals that I played, I played Rafa going for 22 and I played Novak going for 23. So I was like, ‘Could it get tougher… can you get anyone like more motivated in the history of winning a match?'

"He's going to be out there until he dies probably. Not going to want to lose, especially Novak going for 23, you know he’s just going to lock in and you can be 5-1, 40-0 in the first set and he’s probably gonna win it somehow."

It is no secret that Ruud is a clay court expert. However, despite his prowess on the red clay, the Spaniard decimated him 6-3, 6-3, 6-0, while the Serb also comfortably defeated him 7-6(1), 6-3, 7-5.

The Norwegian later admitted that he felt he had a shot at causing an upset against Nadal since he was dealing with a leg injury at that point. He then broke down how it felt to play Rafael Nadal in the final of the French Open.

Casper Ruud also reached the final of the 2022 US Open but lost to Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-2, 6-7(1), 3-6.