‘Surface changes ensured Nadal, Federer and Djokovic dominated,’ says former coach
The former coach of Maria Sharapova, Gabriel Jaramillo, believes the standardization of court surfaces has enabled the ‘Big three’ of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer to establish and maintain their dominance in the world of tennis.
Despite Nadal, Djokovic and Federer all currently facing challenging periods in their career, it cannot take away from what they have achieved in their respective careers.
Between the three of them they have 61 Grand Slam titles, with Rafael Nadal edging the other two as he currently sits on 21 following his Australian Open triumph in January.
Overall they hold 280 ATP titles between them with Federer winning 103 titles.
Djokovic, meanwhile, has the record for the most amount of Masters titles with 37 – one above Rafael Nadal with 36.
The three of them monopolising finals was previously a regular occurrence, and Gabriel Jaramillo, who also coached Monica Seles, believes there is a relatively simple reason for it.
Surfaces were essentially standardised in the 2000’s, this was to ensure all three players remained dominant for a long time and as a result keep fans entertained.
In a recent interview Jaramillo said, “Surfaces were levelled out around the mid-2000s when the Big Three were starting to dominate, this move was aimed at allowing Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to remain competitive.
“The three monsters had the ability to transcend tennis, managing to attract even non-regular spectators, tournaments on the circuit live above all this – if the surface had been too fast, there was a risk of Rafael Nadal’s premature exit.
“On the contrary, if the ground had been too slow, Roger Federer might have been in trouble. The idea was that they could face each other frequently, it was the only way to keep people glued to the television.”
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