User:JayJ47/The Trivalry

The Trivalry is a term used to describe the rivalry between, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, the current top 3 players in men’s tennis. The trivalry itself comprises three separate rivalries including the Federer–Nadal rivalry, Djokovic–Nadal rivalry and Djokovic–Federer rivalry. Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have been the most dominant players since 2005, they have won 32 of the last 36 grand slams and 29 out of 30 between the 2005 French Open and the 2012 Wimbledon Championships (with the lone exception being the 2009 US Open, which was won by Juan Martín del Potro). They have finished each year as the top 3 players from 2007 - 2012 and they have been the only players who have held the World No. 1 ranking since February 2, 2004. All three are considered to be the three greatest players to have ever played men's tennis. All three have won a minimum of ten grand slam titles, they are the holders of the most Masters 1000 titles, Nadal leads with 27, Djokovic with 25 and Federer with 24.

Roger Federer
Roger Federer (born August 8, 1981) is a professional tennis player from Switzerland. Along with Nadal and Djokovic, Federer has been one of the most dominant players of the last few years and is considered by many to be the greatest tennis player of all time.
 * Born: August 8, 1981 (age 34)
 * Country:
 * Highest Ranking: No. 1 (February 2, 2004)
 * Current Ranking: No. 1 (July 9, 2012–present)
 * Career Singles Titles: 88
 * Grand Slam Singles Titles: 17 (4 Australian Open, 1 French Open, 7 Wimbledon Championships, 5 US Open)
 * Career Prize Money: $72,918,077

Federer holds numerous records in the sport including the all-time male record for grand slams won with 17, the most weeks spent consecutively as World No. 1 with 237 weeks, the longest amount of weeks spent as World No. 1 with a total of 296 weeks, and the most prize money earned in history by a tennis player (male or female). In 2009, Federer became the fifth male tennis player in history to complete a Career Grand Slam when he won the 2009 French Open.

Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal (born June 3, 1986) is a professional tennis player from Spain. Nadal, along with Federer and Djokovic, has been one of the most dominant players of the last few years and is considered by many to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
 * Born: June 3, 1986 (age 29)
 * Country: 🇪🇸
 * Highest Ranking: No. 1 (August 18, 2008)
 * Current Ranking: No. 7 (September 10, 2015–present)
 * Career Singles Titles: 67
 * Grand Slam Singles Titles: 14 (1 Australian Open, 9 French Open, 2 Wimbledon Championships, 2 US Open)
 * Career Prize Money: $46,300,862

Nadal has been the most dominant clay court player since 2005, winning numerous clay court singles titles, including six French Open titles, an event where he has lost just once. In 2010, Nadal became the sixth man in history to complete a Career Grand Slam when he won the 2010 US Open. Additionally, he won the Gold Medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics, giving him a Golden Career Grand Slam.

Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic (born May 22, 1987) is a professional tennis player from Serbia. Along with Nadal and Federer, Djokovic has been one of the most dominant players of the last few years.
 * Born: May 22, 1987 (age 25)
 * Country: 🇷🇸
 * Highest Ranking: No. 1 (July 4, 2011)
 * Current Ranking: No. 1 (November 11, 2014–present)
 * Career Singles Titles: 57
 * Grand Slam Singles Titles: 10 (5 Australian Open, 3 Wimbledon Championships, 2 US Open)
 * Career Prize Money: $35,255,670

Djokovic has consistently finished each year in the top 3 since 2007 but has achieved some of his best results in 2011. Djokovic dominated the 2011 season by winning ten singles titles, including three of the four Grand Slams (the Australian Open, Wimbledon Championships and US Open). Following his Australian Open victory, Djokovic compiled a 41 match winning streak, and was just one win away from equalling John McEnroe’s record for best start to a season, but his streak was ended in the semifinals of the 2011 French Open with a four set loss to Federer. Djokovic eventually finished 2011 as the World No. 1, a career-first for the Serb.

2007
Federer and Nadal continued their dominance as both players won all four Grand Slam events between them, Federer winning the Australian Open, Wimbledon Championships and US Open and Nadal winning the French Open. The pair contested two Grand Slam singles finals during the season, with Nadal prevailing in four sets over Federer at the French Open and Federer prevailing in five sets over Nadal at Wimbledon.

The year also saw Djokovic break into the top 3 of the ATP Rankings for the first time in his career. Djokovic also scored the first wins of his career over both Nadal and Federer, defeating Nadal in the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open and Federer in the final of the Rogers Cup. Djokovic later reached his first Grand Slam singles final at the US Open but lost in straight sets to Federer. At year’s end, Federer was World No. 1, Nadal was World No. 2 and Djokovic was World No. 3.

2008
Djokovic began the season by ending Federer and Nadal’s winning streak at the Grand Slams as he won the Australian Open by defeating Federer in the semi-finals in straight sets before prevailing over unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (who had defeated Nadal in the previous round) in the final in four sets to win his first Grand Slam singles title.

However, Nadal would win the next two Grand Slams, defeating Federer both times in the finals to win his fourth consecutive French Open title and first Wimbledon title. Nadal’s five set victory over Federer in the final of Wimbledon is often regarded as the greatest tennis match of all time. Nadal would later win the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and eventually surpassed Federer to become the World No. 1 for the first time in his career.

Federer re-gained his form late in the season as he successfully defended his title at the US Open by defeating Andy Murray in the final, and thus claimed his fifth consecutive US Open title and thirteenth Grand Slam singles title overall. Nadal finished the year as the World No. 1 for the first time in his career, whilst Federer and Djokovic finished as World No. 2 and World No. 3 respectively.

2009
Federer re-gained his form and dominated the year, Nadal’s year was mostly affected by knee tendonitis and Djokovic suffered a drop in form.

Nadal began the year strongly as he defeated Federer in five sets in the final of the Australian Open to win his first title at the event and the first hard court Grand Slam singles title of his career. The victory also prevented Federer from equaling Pete Sampras’ record of most Grand Slam singles titles won by a male tennis player. Djokovic meanwhile was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Andy Roddick after retiring due to heat stress.

At the French Open, Nadal suffered a shocking fourth round loss to Robin Söderling who was then ranked twenty-third. Federer would go on to reach the final and defeat Söderling in straight sets to win his first French Open title and thus finally completed a career Grand Slam and equaled Sampras’ record of most Grand Slam singles titles won. Djokovic didn't do well at the French Open, being eliminated in only the third round by Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Nadal was unable to defend his Wimbledon title due to knee tendonitis and Federer went on to win the title defeating Andy Roddick in an epic five set match to win his sixth Wimbledon title and fifteenth Grand Slam singles title overall, thus breaking Sampras’ all-time record of most Grand Slam titles won. Federer also re-gained the World No. 1 ranking following the victory. Djokovic was once again defeated before the semi-final stage, losing to Tommy Haas. Had he won, he would have faced Federer in the semi-finals.

At the US Open, the final Grand Slam of the year, Nadal and Djokovic both lost in the semi-finals whilst Federer progressed to the final. However, Federer suffered a surprise five set defeat to sixth ranked Argentine Juan Martín del Potro. This marked the first time since the 2005 Australian Open where a player other than Federer, Nadal or Djokovic had won a Grand Slam. Federer eventually finished the season as the World No. 1 ahead of Nadal and Djokovic who finished as World No. 2 and World No. 3 respectively.

2010
Nadal dominated the 2010 season by winning three of the four Grand Slams and also reclaimed the World No. 1 ranking. Federer had a relatively poor season by his standards, winning just one Grand Slam (the Australian Open). Federer’s record of 23 consecutive semi-final appearances at the Grand Slams was also broken when he was defeated in the quarterfinals of the French Open by Robin Söderling. Djokovic achieved a new career high singles ranking of World No. 2 following the Australian Open and enjoyed a consistent year at the Grand Slams, reaching the quarterfinals or better at all four events.

Nadal dominated the clay court season as the Spaniard became the first player in history to win the three clay court ATP Masters 1000 events and the French Open all in the same year. Nadal would go onto win his second Wimbledon title defeating Tomas Berdych in the final. Berdych had defeated Federer and Djokovic in the quarter and semi-finals respectively.

At the US Open, Djokovic saved two match points to defeat Federer in five sets in the semi-finals winning to reach his second US Open final. In the final, Djokovic was defeated by Nadal in four sets, giving Nadal his first US Open title. By winning, Nadal became the seventh male player in the open era to complete a career Grand Slam, and just the second man after Andre Agassi to achieve a career golden slam. Nadal finished the season as World No. 1 ahead of Federer and Djokovic who finished as World No. 2 and World No. 3 respectively.

2011
Djokovic dominated the year by winning ten singles titles including three of the four Grand Slams (the Australian Open, Wimbledon Championships and US Open) and five of the nine ATP Masters 1000 events, prevailing in Indian Wells, Miami, Rome, Madrid and Canada. Djokovic also held a 41 match winning streak until his loss to Federer in the semi-finals of the French Open. Following his four set victory over Nadal in the finals of Wimbledon, Djokovic became the World No. 1 for the first time in his career.

Nadal enjoyed a relatively successful season winning the French Open for the sixth time in his career and reaching the finals of Wimbledon and the US Open, where he lost to Djokovic on both occasions. At the Australian Open, Nadal had the chance to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slam titles at once, having won the previous year's French Open, Wimbledon and US Open titles, but he was defeated in the quarter-finals by David Ferrer.

Federer enjoyed a lackluster season by his standards, failing to win a Grand Slam singles title for the first time since 2002. However, the Swiss did end Djokovic’s 41 match winning streak at the French Open by defeating the Serb in the semi-finals. Federer eventually lost to Nadal in the final. At the US Open, Federer led two sets to love and held two match points in the final set of his five set semi-final match against Djokovic but ultimately lost. Towards the end of the season however, Federer recovered from his slump, winning the Swiss Indoors, the BNP Paribas Masters and the ATP World Tour Finals.

At year’s end, Djokovic was ranked World No. 1, Nadal was ranked World No. 2 and Federer had slipped to World No. 3, his lowest year-end ranking since 2002.

2012
Nadal reached his second Australian Open final by defeating Federer in the semifinals. In the final, Nadal lost to Djokovic in five sets. This marked the first time where Djokovic had successfully defended a Grand Slam title. At 5 hours and 53 minutes in length, the match is the longest Grand Slam singles final in history. In the BNP Paribas Open all three got to the semi-finals; Djokovic lost against american John Isner 6-7 6-3 6-7 and in the other semi-final match Roger Federer defeated Nadal 6-3 6-4 and then defeated John Isner in the final. In the clay court season Nadal won the Rome and Monte Carlo Masters and Federer won on the blue clay in Madrid. At the 2012 French Open, Novak Djokovic extracted some revenge for the previous year's semi-final defeat by defeating Roger Federer in the semi-finals, setting up yet another showdown against Rafael Nadal. Djokovic had the chance to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slam singles titles at once, after his Wimbledon and US Open titles last year and this year's Australian Open title, but he was defeated in the final by Nadal.

At Wimbledon, Nadal was upset in the second round by Lukáš Rosol, who was ranked World No. 100. The next day, Federer defeated Julien Benneteau in five sets after being down two sets to love and being two points away from what would have been his earliest Wimbledon exit since 2002. In the semifinals, Federer defeated Djokovic in four sets and then defeated Andy Murray, who became the first British man since 1938 to reach the Wimbledon final, in the final.

Nadal missed the US Open due to knee tendinitis, the same injury which forced him to miss Wimbledon in 2009. Federer and Djokovic occupied the top two places on the rankings, and subsequently were drawn in opposite halves of each other for the first time since 2007, having met at the semi-final stage for the last four years. At the 2012 US Open, Federer was upset in the quarter-finals by Tomáš Berdych, whilst Djokovic advanced to his third consecutive US Open final. However, Djokovic was defeated in the final by Andy Murray, who became the first British male player since Fred Perry in 1936 to win a Grand Slam singles title. It was only the second time since the 2005 Australian Open that neither of Federer, Nadal or Djokovic won a Grand Slam singles title, and the first time since the 2010 French Open that neither of the three met at any stage during a Grand Slam tournament.

Significant achievements

 * Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are the only players who have held the World No. 1 ranking since February 2, 2004.
 * Collectively, they have contested 19 Grand Slam finals against each other (Federer–Nadal eight times, Djokovic–Nadal 7 times, and Djokovic–Federer four times).


 * Won 37 of the last 43 Majors.
 * Won 29 out of 30 Grand Slam events from the 2005 French Open up to and including Wimbledon 2012.
 * Represented in 42 of the last 43 Major finals.
 * Won 9 of the last 10 Australian Open titles. (Represented in all 10 finals).
 * Each has reached the final of every Grand Slam tournament at least three times and consecutively at least once.
 * Consecutively held the world No. 1 ranking since February 2004.
 * Occupied the top 3 places in the rankings for 6 years, 5 consecutively. (2007–2011, 2014).
 * Each has won 3 of the 4 Grand Slam events in a season.
 * Each has won at least one Major 3 or more times consecutively.
 * Each has won at least one Major 5+ times.
 * Each has won 11+ titles in a season.
 * Each has won at least 10 Grand Slam titles - Federer has won 17 (the all-time record), Nadal has won 14 (tied second with Sampras) and Djokovic has won 10 (tied seven with Bill Tilden)
 * Set or tied the Open Era record for most titles won in all four four Grand Slam events - Djokovic with 5 Australian open titles, Federer with 7 Wimbledon titles (tied) and 5 US Open titles (tied) and Nadal with 9 French Open titles.
 * All won ATP Player of the Year, ITF Men's Singles Champion, Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year and ESPY Award for Best Male Tennis player.
 * Each has 80%+ win percentage at all 4 Grand Slam tournaments.
 * Each has the highest win percentage on clay (Nadal), grass (Federer) and hard (Djokovic) courts in the Open Era.
 * Won 8 out of 9 Masters 1000 tournaments in 2012.
 * Won 7 out of 9 Masters 1000 tournaments in 2007 and 2014 and were represented in every final both years.
 * Each is placed in the top three in terms of the number of titles won in Masters 1000 tournaments. Nadal is ranked first with 27 titles, Djokovic is ranked second with 25 titles, Federer is ranked third with 24 titles in the open era.
 * Each has defeated the other two in at least one Grand Slam tournament final.
 * Each has reached the final of all 9 Masters 1000 tournaments.
 * Top three prize money leaders of all time.
 * Hold the top 10 spots for prize money earned in a season (unadjusted for inflation).

The Women's Trivalry
Another "trivalry" exists in the women's side of tennis, and it comprises the rivalries involving the current top three women in the sport – Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams. All three have met each other at least twelve times throughout their careers – Serena Williams leads both Azarenka and Sharapova by 11–1 and 10–2 respectively whilst Azarenka leads Sharapova 7–5. All three women have been World No. 1 at some stage in their careers, have won 20 Grand Slam titles between them and also won the four Grand Slam tournaments in 2012 betweem them. Additionally, they also swept the medal podium in London in 2012 – Williams winning the Gold Medal, Sharapova the Silver and Azarenka the Bronze. In 2012, Azarenka defeated Sharapova in the final of the Australian Open, Williams defeated Sharapova in the Olympic Gold Medal match and in the final of the year-end championships and also defeated Azarenka in the final of the US Open.

The Big Four
A similar rivalry to “The Trivalry” is the rivalry between Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and British player, Andy Murray, the current World No. 4 in men’s tennis. Collectively, the four players are known as “The Big Four”. Murray has finished each year since 2008 as the World No. 4 and he has been the most dominant player aside from Federer, Nadal and Djokovic during this time. As of 2012, Murray has never been ranked World No. 1, however, has appeared in five grand slam singles finals thus far (the 2008 US Open, the 2010 and 2011 Australian Opens, the 2012 Wimbledon Championships and the 2012 US Open), losing to Federer on the first two occasions, to Djokovic on the third, to Federer again on the fourth, before defeating Djokovic in the latest final, to win his first Grand Slam singles title and become the first British man since 1936 to win a Grand Slam singles title. He has been ranked as high as World No. 2, a ranking he held for three weeks in 2009.