Big 3: Federer, Nadal, Djokovic dominate men's tennis

By Huseyin Burak Demirer

ANKARA (AA) - World number one Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open on Sunday after beating Daniil Medvedev of Russia to continue his domination of the Grand Slam tennis courts.

Clinching his ninth Australian Open title, Djokovic came close to the records of Spanish star Rafael Nadal and Switzerland's Roger Federer, who each clinched 20 Grand Slam titles in their careers.

Djokovic, 33, won 18 Grand Slam singles, two away from the record held by 39-year-old Federer and 34-year-old Nadal.

The trio of Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic dominated men's tennis for nearly 20 years, claiming 58 of the last 70 Grand Slams, since Federer's first Slam in 2003.

Apart from the Big Three, the only eight players managed to claim a men's singles title as Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka won three titles each.

British tennis star Murray claimed a victory in the 2012 US Open, 2013 Wimbledon and 2016 Wimbledon, while Switzerland's Wawrinka clinched 2014 Australian Open, 2015 French Open and 2016 US Open.

In addition, some players who registered their names on the Grand Slam champions' list since 2003 are Andy Roddick (2003 USA Open), Gaston Gaudio (2004 French Open), Marat Safin (2005 Aus. Open), Juan Martin del Potro (2009 USA Open), Marin Cilic (2014 USA Open) and Dominic Thiem (2020 USA Open).

Austrian world number four Thiem clinched 2020's US Open to become the first male player outside the trio of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic since Murray to claim a Grand Slam title victory in 2016.