Stefanos Tsitsipas says the possibility of no member of the Big Three playing in the Australian Open would be part of what he describes as a ‘new reality.’
There are ongoing doubts about the appearance of the trio of players who have won 60 Grand Slam titles between them. Roger Federer has already pulled out of the event due to a knee injury which is set to sideline him from the Tour for a few more months. Novak Djokovic is still in Serbia amid speculation over if he will be able to play due to the tournament’s policy of allowing only vaccinated players to play. The world No.1 has not disclosed his vaccination status publicly. Finally, Rafael Nadal is heading to Australia but is on the comeback from both a foot injury and COVID-19 which he contracted earlier this month.
Out of the trio, Nadal is the only one officially confirmed for the first major of 2022. Earlier this week Nick Kyrgios said the possibility of every member of the Big Three not playing in Melbourne Park would be a ‘disaster’ due to their reputation in the sport.
However, world No.4 Tsitsipas believes such a situation would be a glimpse into the future. The 23-year-old is among the contingent of players hoping to take over in the future as the main protagonists on the Tour.
“That is how it’s going to be generally in a few years time, potentially three years time,” he said during a press conference on Thursday.
“So getting used to it early … it’s pretty much the new reality and let’s see how tennis works out without the top three.
“I really want to see which players are going to prevail.”
Tsitsipas says that he and other younger players on the Tour have ‘something different to offer.’ In the world’s top 10 eight players are under the age of 25. The two exceptions are 35-year-old Nadal and 34-year-old Djokovic.
“We are able to bring tennis at a very high level; we have something different to offer than what Djokovic or Federer or Nadal have,” Tsitsipas said.
“It’s not our responsibility, we just have to work hard every single day, bring the best out of this game and set the bar high.
“I’m playing for myself and if young kids are inspired by what we do then we’ve done our job right.”
Since 2018 only two players outside of the Big Three have managed to win a Grand Slam title which was both at the US Open. Dominic Thiem won the 2020 trophy followed by Daniil Medvedev a year later.
Tsitsipas will start his season at the ATP Cup in Sydney where he will be the third highest ranked player in the tournament after Medvedev and Alexander Zverev. Greece has been drawn in the same group as Georgia, Poland and Argentina. They will play their first tie on Saturday against Poland with Tsitsipas set to take on Wimbledon semi-finalist Hubert Hurkacz.
