With Medvedev failing to win a slam in 2022, is it time to stop comparing every new slam winner to the all-time greats?

2022 has been a year to forget for Daniil Medvedev. Hot off the heels of almost going back to back at majors, reality quickly sank in for Medvedev. Earlier this year, Medvedev was gunning to become the first male player outside of the big-3 to win consecutive majors, since Andre Agassi in 1999-2000. Daniil was simply 2 games away from putting his hands on the trophy. However, in a most unexpected of sequences, Rafael Nadal demonstrated the unthinkable to eventually win in a marathon 5 hour 26 minute grand slam final. At 35 years year old, Nadal outlasted a 25 year old world number 2 ranked player in almost 6 hours.

The feats that the big 3 have produced over the years (and still seem to produce) are completely understandable. All three will go down as potentially the three best players to ever play the game. This is the part that many pundits and fans fail to understand: comparing any next gen player to the big 3 is incredibly short sighted. No male player, in 25 years has managed to win more than 3 majors, let 5, 10, 15 or 20, besides the big 3. If we are to compare Roger Federer to Daniil Medvedev, by a similar age Federer already had 12 grand slams. Medvedev has just the 1. Yet time and time again, comparisons keep being drawn between new grand slam champions and members of the big 3. Similarly, when Dominic Thiem made 4 grand slam finals, and finally won the US Open in 2020, many thought it was now his time to shine and win 5 + grand slams. Almost identical to the plight that Medvedev has faced in 2021, he was a complete shadow on himself.

If we are talking about Carlos Alcaraz, the pressure on the kid will be astronomical. What he has already done is unheard of. World number 1 at 19 years of age!? However, the next 12 months will be extremely telling, as many fans and analysts of the game begin to place him as the man to beat in every single major next year. Winning is one thing- having a target on your back at world number 1 is another. As the world number 1, you are expected to win pretty much every match you play. For players like Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer, the pressure was never too big for them against the best players in the world. How many times can we truly think of matches involving these guys, where we saw the pre-game, and expected them to lose? Almost never. The key takeaway is that when you saw the name Novak, Federer or Nadal, having an opponent beat them would be the surprising outcome, not something that was to be expected.

However, with next gen, there is no player which truly comes to mind which you would say is not beatable. The big 3 were simply not beatable. It would honestly take a player to play the match of their life to achieve this feat. This is definitely not the case with current world number 1 Carlos Alcaraz, who was beaten by none other than David Goffin. A week or two before that? A loss to Felix Auger-Aliassame, who then proceeded to lose Roberto Bautista Agut a mere week later.

All in all, with such a poor rate of success for those anointed as the heir to the big 3, is it time to pump the brakes on comparing every new grand slam champion to the big 3?