• Tennis

Federer remains the greatest as golden era crumbles

Roger Federer made it to the semi-finals of the US Open © AP

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All sporting empires crumble. Just ask Manchester United. But are we seeing four houses fall at the same time? And if so, which will history judge to have been the greatest?

This year's US Open was not won by Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray - only the third time in 39 grand slams that one of the Big Four will not lift the trophy. So is this blip or terminal decline? Djokovic, especially, will not go gently into that good night, and normal service may well be resumed in Melbourne. Still, we are approaching the end of this golden era.

You have to go back to the 2005 Australian Open to find a grand slam final that did not feature one of them, when Marat Safin beat Lleyton Hewitt. Marat Safin! Mad Marat, with his entourage of saucy ladies and his later career as a politician. I remember him beating Agassi at the French in 1998 - that was practically during Britpop. Talk about a different generation.

Federer was the first to emerge, of course, and remains for me the greatest of them all. No other sportsperson has better epitomised the romantic ideal of effortless grace, let alone marrying it with an iron will and relentless consistency. His form around 2006 made it look impossible that anyone could ever beat him more than once in a blue moon, and then Nadal emerged and not only beat him occasionally but mastered him: 23-10 head-to-head and 9-2 in slams.

If Federer had to secure his greatness by toppling the champions of the Sampras-Hewitt-Roddick era, Nadal had the challenge of reaching and, arguably, surpassing the level set by Federer. And yet just as he was wresting the crown from the head of the Swiss, breaking his heart again and again by getting back impossible balls, swinging that forehand like a club, Djokovic blossomed. How do you beat this flexible freak, his tigerish defence and endurance the equal of Nadal, his astonishing mental toughness perhaps even more impressive? I don't think I have seen any player in a solo sport who seems to relish and enjoy pressure as much as Djokovic.

Marin Cilic beat Kei Nishikori in the first grand slam final that didn't feature one of the big four since 2005 © AP

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And, of course, our own Andy Murray. For a while, he was the Ringo Starr of this four, but his all-round game, his backhand, his defence, his creativity allied to improved mental and physical strength made him, from 2010, a bona fide member of the club.

Murray has had to contend with an amazing amount of nonsense from the public and media, from the absurd pressure to win Wimbledon and the stroppy, sneery tantrums when he didn't. Or we complained that he wasn't cheerful enough and badgered him about Scottishness and the England football team. Even if he is perhaps not quite in the same pantheon as the other three, he has played a full part in some great rivalries and matches. Maybe the fact that he had to conquer his own mental failings to do it makes his achievements even more inspiring.

It looks likely that Djokovic will be the last man standing, as age and injury catch up with the other three. Perhaps some of the second tier will step forward, or we may have an era of Djokovic versus the rest. Let's hope we don't have a monolithic period where the sport is dominated too much by one player, no matter how good. He is.

On Sunday, the women's final gave the distaff insight into the ghost of dreary men's tennis past, and possibly men's tennis future. Serena Williams crushed Caroline Wozniacki without ever having to play near her best. In mismatch terms, it was like those matches in the men's dark age, when lumbering giants ruled the courts, smacking down their unreturnable, unwatchable serves at cannon fodder.

Wozniacki, don't forget, has been a world number one, albeit only a paper champion, one without a grand slam title to her name. The Wozzer was a number one rather like the England one-day cricket side were, when they briefly topped the rankings despite never really being truly top class. Serena, as with Venus at her best, is so much stronger and more effective than her opponents that meaningful competition hinges on little more than her fitness and mental desire.

Who has been the greatest of the four men? On aesthetic grounds, I hold Federer the most dear, but you could make a case for any of the other three. That they are all decent men who respect each other and are four completely different characters, all fascinating in their own right, has only made it more enjoyable.

We have lived through the greatest era in men's tennis history. Monday saw a new man call himself a grand slam champion for the first time since the big four began to take charge. But Marin Cilic will know that he has a hell of a way to go before he even comes closing to standing alongside his illustrious recent predecessors.

Andy Murray was the Ringo Starr of tennis' Fab Four © Getty Images

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Alan Tyers writes for the Daily Telegraph, ESPNcricinfo and is the author of six books, the most recent of which is 'Tutenkhamen's Tracksuit: The History of Sport in 100ish Objects'

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