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In tennis, the term Big Four refers to the quartet of men's singles players Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray. These players were considered dominant in terms of ranking and tournament victories, including Grand Slam tournaments and ATP Masters 1000 events, as well as the ATP World Tour Finals and Olympic Games, dominating the sport amongst them from 2003 untill 2022.
Federer was the first to come to prominence after winning Wimbledon in 2003 and established himself as the world No. 1 by the beginning of 2004. Nadal followed in 2005 after a French Open triumph including a win over Federer, and they occupied the top two places in the ATP rankings for 211 consecutive weeks from July 2005 to August 2009. Djokovic, from 2007, and later Murray, from 2009, increasingly challenged Federer's and Nadal's dominance with seasonal consistency: Djokovic captured three of the four major tournaments in 2011,2015 and in 2012 the quartet won one Major tournament apiece.In 2011, Nadal declared that his and Federer's period of joint dominance had ended, owing to the ascent of other players, notably Djokovic and Murray.
They have regularly occupied the top four places in the year-end rankings between 2008 and 2013, with all four having reached a career high No. 1. Federer was world No. 1 for a record 302 weeks, Djokovic was ranked No. 1 for 253 weeks (fifth all-time), Nadal was No. 1 for 141 weeks (7th all-time), and Murray, who got there for the first time on 7 November 2016, 83 weeks. Federer and Djokovic lead among them with 5 year-end No.1, followed by Nadal with 3 and Murray with 2.
Since this time the term "Big Four", while used previously, became popular with the media and in tennis literature. The Big Four were a critical part of what has, since 2006, often been labelled a new "Golden Era" in tennis;that term is also applied to the mid-1970s to 1980s,and the 1920s to the 1930s.
Amongst them, they have won 61 of the last 82 men's major singles titles, from the 2003 Wimbledon through to the 2022 US Open; they have also won 14 of the previous 20 World Tour Finals (previously Tennis Masters Cup), with Federer and Djokovic winning six, with a record 4 consecutive from 2012 to 2015, and Murray winning two. Of the four, Federer leads with a record 17 Grand Slam tournament titles followed by Nadal and Djokovic both with 15 Grand Slam Titles and Murray with 7. Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic have completed a Career Grand Slam by winning each of the four Majors at least once, with Nadal also winning a gold medal at 2008 Summer Olympics for a Career Golden Slam. Murray hasn't won the French Open despite reaching the final twice in Paris, but has also won two gold medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2016 Summer Olympics, becoming the first tennis player in history to win two singles gold medals, and the most successful male Olympic tennis player in the modern era with two gold medals and a silver medal. In the four Olympic Games between 2008 and 2020, the four have 6 gold medals (Murray 2, Nadal 2, Federer 1,Djokovic 1) 3 silver medals (Murray 2, Federer 1) and a bronze medal (Djokovic 1).
Furthermore, at ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, they are all in historic top-10 list, Djokovic leads with a record 39 titles, Nadal (31) Federer (26) and Murray (22).All four players have also played key roles in leading their countries to success in the Davis Cup, including in Djokovic's and Federer's case with Serbia (2010) and Switzerland (2014) winning the competition for the first time, while Nadal has racked up four Davis Cup titles, and in Murray's case, ending a drought of 79 years for Great Britain in 2015.
Before 2008:Federer Dominance[]
The period between 2005 and 2008 was subsequently dominated by the Federer–Nadal rivalry. They won 11 consecutive majors, meeting in every French Open and Wimbledon final from 2006–2008. The 2008 Wimbledon final, which Nadal won, has been lauded as the greatest match ever by many long-time tennis analysts.From 2005–2010 they ended every year as the world's top two players. Federer won 2 Grand Slams on 2005, and 3 out 4 Slams in 2006 and 2007, and the US Open in 2008, reaching 10 consecutive finals from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships through to the 2007 US Open Final. Rafa won a then-record 4 consecutive Roland Garros Championships, tying Borg's record. In 2008 he completed the "Channel Slam" by winning the French Open followed by winning his first Wimbledon Championship, defeating the 5 time consecutive defending Champion, Roger Federer, in a match regarded the greatest of all time.
2008–2010: Emergence of the Big Four[]
Federer and Nadal remained the lead rivalry, and the pair met in the final of both the French Open and Wimbledon. Nadal won both, with the latter described as one of the greatest tennis matches of all time.In August 2008, after winning the 2008 Summer Olympics gold medal, Nadal passed Federer to become world No. 1, after Federer had been at the top for a record 237 consecutive weeks.
During the 2010 season, the Big Four began to dominate the Tour as a group for the first time.The Big Four provided six of the eight Grand Slam tournament finalists, and won 14 tournaments combined in the season (compared to 6 for the other four competitors at the 2010 ATP World Tour Finals). At the start of the year, Federer continued his dominance as world number one by winning the Australian Open, defeating Murray in the final, but his run of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals came to end at the French Open that year when he lost to Robin Söderling in 4 sets. He also then lost to Tomáš Berdych at Wimbledon ending his run of 7 consecutive Wimbledon finals. Nadal dominated the clay-court season again, winning all three clay-court Masters events and the French Open.[55] Nadal also won at Wimbledon, although in both of these tournaments he only had to face one other member of the Big Four (Murray in the Wimbledon semi-finals).
2011-2013 Dominance[]
The 2011 season was dominated by Novak Djokovic. Djokovic won 10 titles in total, including three Grand Slam tournament titles (only the fifth man in the open era to do so) and five ATP Masters 1000 titles (a record), enjoyed a 41 match winning streak (ended by Federer in the semifinals of the 2011 French Open), amassed a record in prize money, and ascended to world No. 1 in the world for the first time in July. The season was described by many experts and former players as one of the best tennis seasons for a single player seen in history, with Tennis Magazine describing it as the third best tennis season ever, behind Roger Federer's 2006 season, and Rod Laver's in 1969. Pete Sampras described it as "one of the best achievements in all of sport."
The dominance of the Big Four continued in 2012. Each player won one Grand Slam tournament: Djokovic won in Australia, Nadal in France, Federer at Wimbledon and Murray (who hired former world number 1 Ivan Lendl as his head coach earlier in the year) with his first Grand Slam tournament title at the US Open. This win, combined with winning the gold medal in the Olympic Games men's singles on Wimbledon's Centre Court with consecutive semi-final and final victories against Djokovic and Federer – "cemented" Murray's position as a member of the Big Four: his end of season ranking of third was his best yet.