MIKE DICKSON: McIlroy's decade of toil is why we marvel at Big Three
MIKE DICKSON: Rory McIlroy’s decade of toil reminds us why we marvel at the Big Three… Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer’s incredible dominance is sometimes overlooked
- Rory McIlroy is a supremely talented golfer, but has not won a major since 2014
- It shows how remarkable the dominance of Tennis’ Big Three have been
- Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have clocked up 64 majors
If possible to feel sorry for a healthy, uber-wealthy golfer then you could vaguely apply that sentiment to Rory McIlroy at the Masters, watching him scratch around and try to fulfil the expectations of himself and others.
With every season that goes by the question of whether, at 33, he will ever add to his tally of Majors becomes more suffocating. The reality that Andy Murray won a Grand Slam nearly two years more recently than the supremely talented Ulsterman did, in 2014, is still surprising to some.
Another thought struck amid McIlroy’s latest doomed attempt to complete the collection of his sport’s biggest trophies: it further underscores the greatness of the men’s Big Three in tennis.
Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and (the now departed) Roger Federer have dominated for so long it can be overlooked sometimes that between they have clocked up 64 Majors. The advent of the European clay season this week focusses the mind on the fact that the number may well have risen to 66 by the end of Wimbledon.
Of the active contenders in golf – sadly we can probably remove Tiger Woods from that list – it is Phil Mickelson who, in the men’s game, has the most Major titles with six, followed by McIlory and Brooks Koepka on four.
Rory McIlroy is a supremely talented golfer, but has not won a major trophy since 2014
It shows how impressive the dominance of Tennis’ big three has been over the past two decades
The two sports are very different, and everyone playing the same course – rather than head-to-head knockout matches – is among the factors that bring a greater randomness to golf’s biggest tournaments.
So of course the comparison is anything but a straight one, but the gap in title numbers is nonetheless huge. Knocking out seven opponents, holding form and fitness and avoiding mishaps against international allcomers over a fortnight, is an incredibly demanding exercise.
Djokovic and Nadal, turning 36 and 37 in the next two months, do it again and again, as did Federer, not to mention Serena Williams.
How long will these astonishing feats of skill and motivation play out for? A best guess is that Nadal’s body will stop him soon, and this will allow Djokovic to gain an unassailable lead. Once he has got safely two or three ahead, perhaps beating Margaret Court on 25 or 26 singles titles, he will lose the extraordinary mental edge which sets him apart from others, and this remarkable era will finally be over.
The man most likely to upset that scenario is Carlos Alcaraz. McIlroy has a keen interest in tennis – perhaps a legacy of his relationship with Caroline Wozniacki – and prior to Augusta it was notable that he cited the ‘joy and instinct’ that permeates the young Spaniard, an elusive quality which he would so love to recapture himself.
Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have clocked up 64 majors, with Serena Williams winning a further 23
Andy Murray said he ‘wouldn’t predict’ the level of success experienced by the Big Three for ‘anyone’
Murray, the old sage, had an incisive take on this when asked about Alcaraz last month at the Miami Open. Referring to the teenager’s free-flowing expansiveness he remarked: ‘That’s something you hope that he keeps. I know from experience that it’s a bit easier playing that way when you’re sort of 18, 19, and there’s not any scar tissue there.’ McIlroy would understand where he was coming from.
The 35 year-old Scot also hit the target when discussing the truly exceptional three players he has competed against, warning that nobody should ever underestimate their achievements: ‘I know a lot of people are sort of expecting everyone to win 20-plus Grand Slams now, like that’s sort of normal,’ he said. ‘ I wouldn’t predict that for anyone.’
The soul of Tennis
There are few more uplifting heralds of the changing season than this week’s men’s event in Monte Carlo, with its immaculate clay courts on staggered terraces that lead down to the shimmering Mediterranean sea.
The place feels special, and not just because it has surely the best view from any media working area of any sport in the world. If you are going in search of the soul of tennis this is as good a place as any to start.. Walk around the stately, largely unaltered pavilion of the Monte Carlo Country Club and you can sense the ghosts of past champions who once played on the old Riviera circuit that went up the Cote d’Azur in the early part of the year.
Naturally the modern game does not have quite the same romance, but the tournament still signals the start of the road to Paris which snakes around some of Europe’s greatest cities.
Monte Carlo offers one of the best sporting views in the world and is where you’ll find the soul of tennis
You hope that Monte Carlo maintains its current place at the tour’s top table as a bona fide Masters level event, but it has been hit the by the scourge of withdrawals this week. Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Felix Auger-Aliassime are among those who are not there.
No doubt some of these absences are entirely genuine. It is hard to imagine Nadal wanted to miss it, given that it has been a platform for French triumphs so often in the past.
Yet you cannot help wondering if some of the stayaways might be a case of pacing themselves as a result of the enlarged and lengthened ATP tournaments in Miami, Madrid and Rome prior to Roland Garros.
One of tennis’s great selling points ought to be that you can, on a regular basis, see the best compete against the best in the same field. There are a multitude of reasons for it, but on the men’s side that has yet to happen this year.
Who would have thought that in 2023 golf, riven by the upheavals of the LIV circuit challenging the established tours, would beat tennis to it in terms of getting all its best players in the same place at once.
Big test for team GB
Coventry this week plays host to the Billie Jean King Cup tie between Great Britain and France which will see who qualifies for this year’s World finals week.
Emma Raducanu opting out is a blow, but it is still a chance to see some fine players, including world number five Caroline Garcia (limited tickets are still available).
Her presence makes the home team very much second favourites, but as they have shown in recent times, the GB players can sometimes lift themselves in the unusual setting of team competition to a level not seen when operating solo.
Team GB will face a big test against France’s world number five Caroline Garcia in the Billie Kean King Cup
An omen perhaps, is that it is almost ten years exactly since the Davis Cup team without Andy Murray upset Russia at the same venue.
Dan Evans and James Ward scored victories against substantially higher ranked opposition on the final day to finish off a 3-2 win after Jonny Marray and Colin Fleming had claimed the doubles rubber.
Ward went on to register his greatest victory two years later against the USA, beating John Isner as part of the 2015 title charge. Evans showed what talent was there within, once he was able to harness it properly.
As for the Russians, we will not be seeing them in team competitions again until their dictatorship comes to its senses.
Source: Read Full Article