FRENCH OPEN 2021: Is it time for the changing of the guard?

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許す Novak Djokovic if he's just a little bit tired of 審理，公聴会 about, and 存在 asked to 演説（する）／住所, how much longer he, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer can stay at the 最高の，を越す of tennis.

Or, put another way, whether a younger 世代 of men finally is 均衡を保った to 終始一貫して 勝利，勝つ Grand 激突する 肩書を与えるs.

"I mean, I said it a thousand times. I don´t know how many times people want me to repeat it. Of course the `Next Gen´" - a marketing スローガン 押し進めるd by the ATP - "is there, is coming, whatever. But here we are, still winning the biggest tournaments and 激突するs. I don´t know what to tell you other than that," Djokovic said.

"I´m not 焦点（を合わせる）d on the `Next Gen,' even though I know ... it creates a story. People like to talk about it. 罰金. The guys are there. They are already 設立するing themselves in the 最高の，を越す 5, 最高の，を越す 10 of the world. Nothing new," he continued, then 公式文書，認めるd with pride: "But we are still there."

When the French Open begins in Paris on Sunday, it will feel in some ways like order 回復するd after the 2020 版 was altered in two 重要な ways because of the coronavirus pandemic: Only 1,000 観客s were let into Roland Garros per day, and 競争 started in September instead of May. 支援する in its rightful 位置／汚点／見つけ出す on the calendar - 井戸／弁護士席, 延期するd by a week because of COVID-19 関心s, but の近くに enough - and with about 5,300 fans 許すd in each of the first 10 days, then 10,000 or more each of the last five days, could the clay-法廷，裁判所 選手権 serve as the setting for a 象徴的な changing of the guard?

Or, to Djokovic's point, will the 年上のs remain in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金?

Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after winning against Federico Coria of Argentina in their tennis match, during the ベオグラード Open tennis tournament in ベオグラード, Serbia, Thursday, May 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

"A lot of people underestimate the time and the 時代 we are playing in, with by far the three best players in the history of the game," said Dominic Thiem, whose U.S. Open 肩書を与える last September makes him the only first-time major men's 支持する／優勝者 since 2014. "It's more than （疑いを）晴らす that it´s incredibly 堅い to 勝利，勝つ Grand 激突する tournaments, having to （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域, most of the times, two of them."

A glimpse at the dominance:

- 15 of the past 16 Grand 激突する tournaments were won by the Big Three;

- starting with the 2005 French Open, they collected 54 of the past 63 major 肩書を与えるs;

- in that same （期間が）わたる, 23 激突する 決勝戦 伴う／関わるd one of these matchups: Djokovic vs. Nadal, Djokovic vs. Federer, or Nadal vs. Federer.

That can´t happen at Roland Garros because they are in the same half of the bracket for the first time at a Grand 激突する tournament. No. 1 Djokovic could 直面する No. 8 Federer in the 準々決勝; one of them could 会合，会う No. 3 Nadal in the 準決勝.

The other half 含むs No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas and No. 6 Alexander Zverev, who are の中で the 20-something men considered 競争相手s to 得る，とらえる a first major トロフィー, along with No. 2 Daniil Medvedev (although even he would 認める not in Paris, where he is 0-4 so far) and No. 7 Andrey Rublev.

Things look やめる different in the women's game, where the question is which player might 延長する the 最近の run of success of the younger 始める，決める in women´s tennis. Iga Swiatek, for example, won last year´s French Open at age 19 (she turns 20 on Monday). Other 比較して 最近の 激突する champs 含む Ash Barty, 25, Sofia Kenin, 22, and Bianca Andreescu, 20.

And then there is someone like Coco Gauff, still just 17, who keeps moving up the WTA 最高位のs. She, like 19-year-old Jannik Sinner in the men's game, is seen as part of a group of possible 未来 星／主役にするs, ready to step 前へ／外へ as Serena Williams, who is 39, and the 最高の，を越す men move on.

As in any sport - or, truthfully, any 商売／仕事 - 結局 there is turnover. Has to be, of course.

The guessing game in tennis has been about both who will break through and when.

With Federer turning 40 in August, Nadal turning 35 next week and Djokovic now 34, there did seem to be some 最近の 証拠 that such a 転換 might be happening, 含むing in the 最高位のs, where Medvedev is the first man other than the Big Three or Andy Murray to be 階級d in the 最高の，を越す 2 in 15 years.

Thiem's 勝利 in New York at age 27 made him the first man born in the 1990s to 勝利，勝つ a Grand 激突する 肩書を与える. 走者-up Zverev and the other semifinalists at 紅潮／摘発するing Meadows also belong to that １０年間 - and the 2020 U.S. Open was the first 激突する since 2004 without at least one of Djokovic, Nadal or Federer in the 準決勝.

A caveat, though: Neither Federer ( coming off two 膝 操作／手術s that sidelined him for more than a year ) nor Nadal entered the U.S. Open, and Djokovic was disqualified in the fourth 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

Three 最近の Masters 1000 決勝戦 featured matchups between up-and-comers, 含むing Tsitsipas vs. Rublev at Monte Carlo.

But at the last Masters 1000, on clay at the Italian Open this month, Djokovic 直面するd Nadal in the final (Nadal won, perfect 準備 for his 企て，努力，提案 for a 14th French Open 肩書を与える and 21st Grand 激突する トロフィー 全体にわたる).

After （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing Tsitsipas in the 準決勝 in Rome, Djokovic ran into Nadal in the locker room.

"We 肉親，親類d of joked around," Djokovic said, "that the old guys are still not giving up."

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FILE - In this May 15, 2021 とじ込み／提出する photo, Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas returns the ball to Serbia's Novak Djokovic during their ４半期/4分の1-final match at the Italian Open tennis tournament, in Rome. When the French Open starts Sunday, May 30, in Paris, there will be those looking for a changing of the guard in men's tennis, Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev are の中で the 20-somethings considered 競争相手s. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, とじ込み／提出する)