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Updated September 18th, 2021 at 20:24 IST

Time for younger generation to 'kick out' Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, says Lloyd Harris

24-year-old Lloyd Harris believes that there are "cracks" beginning to appear in the 'Big Three' of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic.

Reported by: Prithvi Virmani
Roger Federer
Image: AP | Image:self
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Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic have dominated the tennis world for the past 20 years, and the three of them have an astonishing 60 Grand Slams in total divided equally amongst them. However, Rank 31 in the world and recent US Open quarter-finalist Lloyd Harris believes that there are "cracks" beginning to appear in the 'Big Three'. 

When asked at a press conference recently about whether there are cracks in the 'Big Three' he was quoted by Eurosport as saying:

Absolutely, it's been coming for a while. It's been hard for the younger generation to just crack into those Grand Slams. Novak's just been unstoppable until this very last match... I just think he came up against an extremely difficult opponent on the day. Daniil played some really good tennis throughout the whole summer and (he) just kind of reflects this newer generation.

The younger generation really coming through

Daniil Medvedev defeated Djokovic in straight sets in the recently concluded US Open final, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Earlier, Alexander Zverev beat Djokovic at the Olympics and Stefanos Tsitsipas and Hubert Hurkacz have both won Masters titles this year showing that the younger generation is finding their way to the more important trophies now and Harris seems to have similar belfies and adding that it is time for the younger generation to "kick out" the 'Big Three'.

"This young generation is really coming through," added Harris. "If you look at the top 50 now, I think there are more young guys in there than there's been in the last 20 years. It just shows you... Felix (Auger-Aliassime) had a tremendous run (at the US Open) as well as Hurkacz, who got a Masters win in Miami, (and Casper) Ruud winning three titles...so this new generation is really coming through nicely and these are all the guys that I grew up with. It's incredible how we're all within one year from each other, between 1996 to 1998 almost, which is pretty incredible."

So, yes, I've known these guys for a long time, we've been competitive in the juniors already and it's nice to see all of us progressing and now I think it's time to kick out the ‘Big Three’ and let the younger generation take over.

Harris also had a good year by finishing at a career-high ranking of 31 and also the furthest he has been in any Grand Slam before by making it to the quarter-finals of the US Open where he eventually got knocked out to Zverev.

(Image: AP)

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Published September 18th, 2021 at 20:24 IST

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