“Carlos and Jannik, they’re probably as good as the Big Three before" - A survivor of two eras: David Goffin breaks down tennis’ shift in dominance

There has been a transition in dominant forces in tennis. At one point, the 'Big Three' made up of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic were the ones to beat. Now, the changing of the guard see Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at the top of the pecking order. David Goffin has beaten the majority of these big talents, as he compares the differences in rivalries.

The former world number seven is still going strong in the sport, despite a tumble down the rankings. Now sitting at world number 119, he is a long way off from the formidable force he once was. A four-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist, he reached a final of a Masters 1000 event in 2019 while climaxing at another four semi-finals. He has won six ATP titles with the most recent coming back in 2022 at the Grand Prix Hassan II.

Now 35-years-old, Goffin has enjoyed over a decade in the sport. He has come up against all the top players in this time from the Big Three to the top two today. He has a very strong perspective on the talents of all those players. He stated that Alcaraz and Sinner were as good as the Big Three.

“Carlos and Jannik, they’re probably as good as the Big Three before," he told Express Sport. "They’re always in the finals, almost in every tournament that they play. So it's tough to beat them."

However, there is a caveat to this. Goffin believes that Alcaraz and Sinner's challengers are not as strong as what the Big Three had to put up with. The likes of Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Juan Martin del Potro managed to clinch Grand Slam titles in this illustrious era. Compare this to now when Alcaraz and Sinner have full control over the distribution of major titles. They have triumphed in the previous eight tournaments while facing off in the last three finals.

"I would say it's more open from the spot No. 5 to 20, because before, the top-10 was, I would say, really strong, and they were really consistent," Goffin said. "If I remember, players like [Marin] Cilic, Wawrinka, del Petro, [Tomas] Berdych, [David] Ferrer, they were always there, every tournament they play, always there. Now it's a little bit more ups and downs, I would say, with the players from the top-five until top-20."

The closest player seemingly ready to break the rivalry is a 38-year-old Djokovic. Other top players such as Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Jack Draper are highly touted but on court they cannot get the better of them enough. “So they can have amazing weeks, but they can also sometimes, we have a chance to beat them, and we have to take the opportunity," Goffin continued. "So it's a little bit different. Obviously, Carlos and Jannik are as good as before, but maybe we have a chance [against] the other players.”

Beating just one of the Big Three is enough to put a tennis player off. Goffin managed to complete this feat twice in just one tournament in an incredible showing. He qualified for the ATP Finals for the second year running in 2017. He was in a tough group with Rafael Nadal the standout threat. This did not faze Goffin who managed to just about fend off the 22-time Grand Slam champion 7-6 (5), 6-7(4), 6-4.

He finished second in his group and had the perilous task of playing against Roger Federer. After going a set down, Goffin managed to produce the goods to progress into the final after beating Federer 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. He could not go the full way, losing in three sets to Grigor Dimitrov. Earlier that year, he defeated Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the Monte-Carlo Masters, and got another victory over Nadal in the 2020 ATP Cup.

It is not just the Big Three he has had success against. He is one of the few players to have a positive record over Alcaraz. The six-time Grand Slam winner admitted that the last time he cried after a match was when Goffin dumped him out of the Miami Open second round. This is added to the win in the Almaty Open in 2022, giving him a 2-1 record. However, he has never defeated Sinner. Their two matchups came back in 2020 with the Italian not dropping a set.

Goffin delved into his ability to defeat the best players in the world. “I think now, I'm 35, so I have the experience. I'm a former top-10 player, so I have the experience of a high level, and I have a game style that I try to take the ball early. I'm fast and try to play my game,” Goffin explained.

“This combination makes it so that when the players play against me, they don't like to play against my game type of style or game type. I don't know. I just try to do my best and sometimes when I play some good tennis, I can make some trouble.”