"Probably just as hard to beat": Dominic Thiem gives verdict about how difficult it is to win Grand Slam in post 'Big Three' era

Former US Open champion Dominic Thiem believes winning a Grand Slam is not any easier despite the end of the original ‘Big Three’. The original concept of ‘Big Three’ started with the dominance of the former world number ones Switzerland’s Roger Federer, Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic.

The three players dominated the good past of the last two decades and won as many as 66 Grand Slams between them. Federer retired from the sport back in 2022, whereas Nadal left the game in 2024. On the other hand, Djokovic has not won an ATP title since the start of 2024.

Former world number three and the 2020 US Open winner Thiem has been recently quoted in a report by Tennis 365, where he stated that winning a Grand Slam isn’t any easier than it used to be five or 10 years back. The 31-year-old stated that while he hopes a player of Germany’s Alexander Zverev will win a Grand Slam in his career, but if he doesn’t, it will be because beating players like Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz is as hard as beating any of the ‘Big Three’ players.

“I hope Sascha [Zverev] wins a Grand Slam,” he said. “I think his career is far too good without one. But even if he doesn’t make it, it’s still absolutely sensational. If he wins a Grand Slam, he’ll pretty much automatically become number one because he’s playing so consistently and so well. Everyone said that when the Big Three or the Big Four are gone, it will be easier because no one will come up. Now we have Sinner and Alcaraz. If they’re not injured or out for some other reason, you usually have to beat one or even both of them, and that’s really hard. I think Sinner and Alcaraz are probably just as hard to beat today as Federer or Djokovic were back then. And there are some other really good players like Taylor Fritz when he’s playing at a really high level, like at the US Open. Winning a Grand Slam isn’t any easier than it was five or ten years ago.”