But it was Tuesday’s headline match in a packed and sunny center court, between Zverev and Berrettini, that brought those early-2020s vibes rushing back. The two dueled through three back and forth sets, and the points grew long and better as the third set reached it conclusion. To the delight of the many Italian fans in the crowd, Berrettini, playing some of his best tennis in years, got the better of those rallies, and knocked out the top seed, 7-5 in the third set.
The Next Gen, as we know now, never took the Big 3’s baton and ran with it. Part of the problem was that Federer, Nadal and especially Djokovic took so long to hand it off. Rafa was still winning Slams until 2022, and Djokovic won three of four in 2023. By then, a new and improved, two-man Next Gen—Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner—had arrived to steal the baton away and rise straight to the top of the rankings.=
The Big 3 have won 66 major titles; Medvedev, Zverev, Tsitsipas and Berrettini have combined to win one (Medvedev, at the 2021 US Open). The Big 3 spent 947 weeks at No. 1; the four Next Genners have spent 16 weeks there (all by Medvedev in 2022).
When Sinner was suspended from February to May, it looked like the original Next Gen might have an opening at several big events, and a chance to draw closer in the rankings. Instead, this has been an especially sluggish, and even ominous, spring for them.
