Paris: Swiss tennis great Stan Wawrinka told AFP that he was "lucky enough to play and sometimes beat" the 'big three' of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, as the triple Grand Slam winner reflected on a golden era for the sport. The 39-year-old is preparing for his 19th French Open where he will take on the retiring Andy Murray in the first round -- the only other player to have won three Grand Slams outside the 'big three' since Federer's first in 2003. However, the build-up to the tournament has been dominated by talk of 14-time Roland Garros champion Nadal, who will likely take to the Parisian clay for the last time, and the poor recent form of record Grand Slam title holder Djokovic.
With Federer retiring in 2022, Nadal playing his last season and Djokovic, despite still being world number one, recently turning 37 and not having won a title in 2024, tennis is moving inexorably towards a new era. "I was lucky enough to be able to play alongside them (the big three) and sometimes beat them," said Wawrinka. "Of course, the only way to win a Grand Slam then was to improve.
"As in every generation, whether it was them, (Pete) Sampras before them, or (Andre) Agassi, when you want to beat the best, you have to get better." A winner of three Grand Slam titles, Wawrinka truly did it the hard way -- beating Nadal in Australia in 2014, Djokovic in Paris in 2015 and the Serb again in the 2016 US Open. Djokovic has 24 Grand Slams to his name, two more than Nadal who will.
