At the point when world No. 1 Novak Djokovic was defaulted in the fourth round of the U.S. Open on Sunday for inadvertently hitting a line judge with a tennis ball, it had prompt and tremendous ramifications for the remainder of the men’s field.
Presently someone not named Novak Djokovic is going to win the competition on Sunday.
Also, since the main players to have won a significant title in their lives — Djokovic, Andy Murray and Marin Cilic — are out of the competition, it implies that a more youthful player will catch his first Grand Slam title.
“There will be another Grand Slam champion,” said No. 5 seed Alexander Zverev, who could have confronted Djokovic in the elimination rounds in the top portion of the draw. “That is all I know at the present time. There’s no past Grand Slam champions left in the draw. It will be one of the youthful folks.”
“Now it gets interesting. Now I think is the time where it gets really interesting.”
It is particularly fascinating thinking about that safeguarding champion Rafael Nadal and five-time champion Roger Federer didn’t come to New York for the Open. Nadal, 34, refered to COVID concerns and is planning for the French Open starting Sept. 27, while Federer, 39, won’t play again until 2021 after knee medical procedure.
Between them, the “Big Three” of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer had won 13 straight Grand Slam titles dating to the 2016 U.S. Open won by Stan Wawrinka. The trio have ruled men’s tennis for as long as 15 years, winning 52 of 60 significant titles. Djokovic, the most established player left in the men’s draw when he was defaulted, had won five of the last seven significant titles.
The last Grand Slam elimination round without an individual from the “Large Three” was over 16 years prior at the 2004 French Open — before Nadal won the first of his 12 Roland Garros titles a year later. The last man to win a Grand Slam title just because was Cilic at the 2014 U.S. Open — six years back.
The default of Djokovic, interim, requires his verifiable pursue of Nadal and Federer to be postponed, at any rate until the French Open. Djokovic could have caught his eighteenth Grand Slam title in New York. The way things are, he stays at 17, three behind Federer’s 20 and two back of Nadal’s 19.
So somehow or another, the rest of the seven day stretch of the Open is a review of what life will resemble after the “Big Three” are gone from the tennis world, at whatever point that day comes.
“Clearly it’s not the equivalent, however eventually those two will resign, also,” Zverev said prior in the competition when asked what it resembled not having Federer and Nadal at the competition. “Furthermore, we will play each competition without them.”
For the present, No. 2 seed Dominic Thiem and No. 3 Daniil Medvedev have all the earmarks of being the undeniable top picks to catch the title. They could meet in the elimination round on the base portion of the draw on Friday.
Thiem, one of the most established outstanding players at 27, has been to three Grand Slam finals — two at the French (2018, ’19) and one at the Australian Open (2020) — without winning a significant. He lost to Nadal in both of the French Open finals and to Djokovic in five sets at the current year’s Australian Open.
Medvedev, the tremendous hitting 24-year-old Russian, arrived at his lone significant last at the Open a year back, pushing Nadal to five sets before missing the mark in an uncontrollably engaging match.
The Russian meets Frances Tiafoe, the main American man staying in the draw, in the round of 16 on Monday.
“I’d love to see Medvedev after what he did a year ago,” John McEnroe said before the competition, when he called Djokovic the weighty top choice.
With three Canadians staying in the draw, new Brooklyn Nets mentor Steve Nash and fanatics of Canadian tennis can dream of an all-Canadian last between Denis Shapovalov and either Felix Auger-Aliassime or Vasek Pospisil.
“It’s certainly not how we would have preferred to have another Grand Slam champion however it’s really energizing to see so numerous youthful folks doing so well and clearly with a portion of the top folks not playing, it’s opened up the draw a lot for everyone so you’re seeing a ton of new players that regularly fans wouldn’t get the chance to see so it’s incredible for them, it’s extraordinary for everyone,” No. 12 Shapovalov said in the wake of beating No. 7 David Goffin in four sets.
“And I think it’s just amazing for the sport to have a new Grand Slam champion. You know, it’s been getting pretty boring with these three guys winning every tournament.”
