CONCLUSION

Men’s professional tennis is rich in characters. There are the giants of the game, the names that everyone knows, the players whose careers, personal lives, and peculiarities have been endlessly examined by commentators and the press. For years the giants have been the famous, now fading, Big Four. There are the less well-known players, the contenders, those who have been crowding the Big Four, in some cases for many years, dancing on the periphery of greatness, hoping to take the place of the kings of the game. Most of the contenders, some young, some not so young, will fall short of their ambitions, but their careers and lives, their victories, and even more so their defeats—some of them described in this book—tell us much about the game. A handful will realize their ambitions and step into the shoes of the Big Four. All of them, winners and losers alike, play their part in the theatre of tennis, what the Times Literary Supplement in January 2018 called “a sport that provides us with an all-purpose set of metaphors, a kind of cultural shorthand.”

Some of the contenders, not talented enough technically, or without the cool discipline the game requires, will drop away in the years to come, sooner rather than later. Will we hear much more about, say, Bernard Tomic or Fabio Fognini? What about Nick Kyrgios? (Perhaps he is here to stay.) Others will continue for a time to nip at the heels of the Big Four, regularly displaying maturity and brilliance on the court, but as they age their hopes must fade. Will Gaël Monfils ever win a Grand Slam? Will Stan Wawrinka win Wimbledon and achieve a career Grand Slam? Will Juan Martín del Potro be the comeback kid yet again? Marin Čilić suddenly is a major contender, but does he have what it takes to become world No. 1?

The young contenders show much promise, but they are not yet seriously battle-tested. Can they last the course? Some of them came roaring into 2018, but met quick disappointment. Denis Shapovalov was knocked out of the 2018 Australian Open in the second round, along with David Goffin. Sascha Zverev only lasted to the third round. Dominic Thiem managed to make the fourth round. 2018 has not begun well for these promising players. Who will survive the punishing ATP Tour? Who will be forgotten? The road to greatness is a long road. Many drop by the wayside.

After the 2018 Australian Open, won by Federer, the Guardian newspaper speculated: “An intriguing scenario is unfolding in the wake of Roger Federer’s sixth Australian Open triumph in which the ageless Swiss arrives at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to join his long-time rivals, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray, in a grand farewell to their illustrious careers.”

If the Guardian’s prediction is right, there’s two years to go. The old days are not over yet, but they will come to an end soon. And then new days will begin.