Big Three Dominance In Grand Slam Finals

By Glen Andersen

Medvedev is in his second grand slam final,  In his fist slam final
(the 2019 U.S. Open), he lost to Nadal in 5 sets.  On Sunday he will
face another “Big 3” guy when he faces Novak Djokovic in the Aussie
final. .

I was curious as to how many times any of the big 3 (Fed, Nadal, and
Djokovic) lost in a grand slam final to someone other than one of the
“Big 3”

Beginning with Federer’s 2003 Wimbledon title, the Big 3 have won 15
French Opens, 12 U.S. Opens, 15 Aussie Opens, and 15 Wimbledons for a
total of 57 grand slam titles for the “big 3”,.

Since 2005, one of the “Big 3” has been in every grand slam final with
only 4 exceptions:

1.  Marc Cilic defeated Kei Nishikori on the 2014 U.S. Open Final

2. Marat Safin defeated Leyton Hewitt in the 2005 Aussie Open final.

3. Andy Muray defeated Raonic in the 2016  U.S. Open final.

4.  Thiem defeated Zverev in last year’s U.S. Open final. (Nadal and
Fed did not play and Djokovic got disqualified for hitting a
linesperson with a ball.)

Has anyone outside the “Big 3” ever defeated one of the “Big 3” in a
grand slam final?:

The answer is yes!

It has happened 6 times and there were only 3 players who were able to do it.

Can you name the 3 players who did it?

One player did it 3 times; One player did it twice and one did it one time. ..

1. Del Potro did it once.  After falling behind 2 sets to love he
defeated Federer in the final of the 2009 U.S. Open.

2. Andy Murray did it twice.  He beat Djokovic in two slam
finals….at the 2012 U.S. Open and at the 2013 Wimbledon
championships.

So who has done it 3 times?  The answer may surprise you.

3.  Stan Wawrinka defeated Djokovic in the 2015 French Open final.  He
defeated Djokovic in the 2016 U.S. Open final, and he defeated Nadal
in the 2014 Aussie Open final.

Since 2005, we have normally seen the Big 3 playing against each other
in slam finals. This Sunday will be an exception when Medvedev plays
Djokovic.

Will Medvedev become the 4th player in history to defeat one of the
“Big 3” in a slam final?

He certainly looks like he is capable of doing it. I’d say his chances
are better than 40%.

AO · Grand Slam · Novak Djokovic

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