Who did each of the Big 3 beat in the final to win a Major?

[Moxie]

Dog days of summer. What else is there to do but dig up some records? @Kieran has been talking about Novak having it easy of late in the Majors. This year's Wimbledon draw was, frankly, kind, and I looked up last year's, and it was, too. Plus, Kieran, and myself, especially, have been reminding folks, with limited success, how Nadal has been squeezed in between his fellow ATGs.

So I asked myself:

Who did each of the Big 3 beat in the final to win a Major? How often did they win a Major beating one of the other Big 3, in a final, (bonus points for earlier in the same tournament? **)

Roger Federer:

2003: W: Phillipoussis
2004: AO: Safin
W: Roddick
USO: Hewitt
2005: W: Roddick
USO: Agassi
2006: AO: Baghdatis
W: Nadal
USO: Roddick
2007: AO: Gonzalez (d. Djokovic - R16)
W: Nadal
USO: Djokovic
2008: USO: Murray (d. Djokovic - SF)
2009: RG: Soderling
W: Roddick
2010: AO: Murray
2012: W: Murray (d. Djokovic - SF)
2017: AO: Nadal
W: Cilic
2018: AO: Cilic

Rafael Nadal:

2005: RG: Puerta
2006: RG: Federer (d. Djokovic - QF)
2007: RG: Federer (d. Djokovic - SF)
2008: RG: Federer (d. Djokovic - SF)
W: Federer
2009: AO: Federer
2010: RG: Soderling
W: Berdych
USO: Djokovic
2011: FO: Federer
2012: FO: Djokovic
2013: FO: Ferrer; (d. Djokovic - SF)
USO: Djokovic
2014: RG: Djokovic
2017: RG: Wawrinka
USO: Anderson
2018: RG: Thiem
2019: RG: Thiem
USO: Medvedev
2020: RG: Djokovic
2022: AO: Medvedev
RG: Ruud (d. Djokovic - QF)

Novak Djokovic:

2008: AO: Tsonga (d. Federer - SF)
2011: AO: Murray (d. Federer - SF)
W: Nadal
USO: Nadal (d. Federer - SF)
2012: AO: Nadal
2013: AO: Murray
2014: W: Federer
2015: AO: Murray
W: Federer
USO: Federer
2016: AO: Murray (d. Federer - SF)
RG: Murray
2018: W: Anderson (d. Nadal - SF)
USO: Del Potro
2019: AO: Nadal
W: Federer
2020: AO: Thiem (d. Federer - SF)
2021: AO: Medvedev
RG: Tsitsipas (d. Nadal - SF)
W: Berrettini
2022: W: Kyrgios
2023: AO: Tsitstipas
RG: Ruud

________________________________________________
** = Not sure if I got all of the green ones right. You're welcome to check that yourselves.

Make what you will of it, but I found it interesting.

 

[Kieran]

Dog days of summer. What else is there to do but dig up some records? @Kieran has been talking about Novak having it easy of late in the Majors. This year's Wimbledon draw was, frankly, kind, and I looked up last year's, and it was, too. Plus, Kieran, and myself, especially, have been reminding folks, with limited success, how Nadal has been squeezed in between his fellow ATGs.

So I asked myself:

Who did each of the Big 3 beat in the final to win a Major? How often did they win a Major beating one of the other Big 3, in a final, (bonus points for earlier in the same tournament? **)

Roger Federer:

2003: W: Phillipoussis
2004: AO: Safin
W: Roddick
USO: Hewitt
2005: W: Roddick
USO: Agassi
2006: AO: Baghdatis
W: Nadal
USO: Roddick
2007: AO: Gonzalez (d. Djokovic - R16)
W: Nadal
USO: Djokovic
2008: USO: Murray (d. Djokovic - SF)
2009: RG: Soderling
W: Roddick
2010: AO: Murray
2012: W: Murray (d. Djokovic - SF)
2017: AO: Nadal
W: Cilic
2018: AO: Cilic

Rafael Nadal:

2005: RG: Puerta
2006: RG: Federer (d. Djokovic - QF)
2007: RG: Federer (d. Djokovic - SF)
2008: RG: Federer (d. Djokovic - SF)
W: Federer
2009: AO: Federer
2010: RG: Soderling
W: Berdych
USO: Djokovic
2011: FO: Federer
2012: FO: Djokovic
2013: FO: Ferrer; (d. Djokovic - SF)
USO: Djokovic
2014: RG: Djokovic
2017: RG: Wawrinka
USO: Anderson
2018: RG: Thiem
2019: RG: Thiem
USO: Medvedev
2020: RG: Djokovic
2022: AO: Medvedev
RG: Ruud (d. Djokovic - QF)

Novak Djokovic:

2008: AO: Tsonga (d. Federer - SF)
2011: AO: Murray (d. Federer - SF)
W: Nadal
USO: Nadal (d. Federer - SF)
2012: AO: Nadal
2013: AO: Murray
2014: W: Federer
2015: AO: Murray
W: Federer
USO: Federer
2016: AO: Murray (d. Federer - SF)
RG: Murray
2018: W: Anderson (d. Nadal - SF)
USO: Del Potro
2019: AO: Nadal
W: Federer
2020: AO: Thiem (d. Federer - SF)
2021: AO: Medvedev
RG: Tsitsipas (d. Nadal - SF)
W: Berrettini
2022: W: Kyrgios
2023: AO: Tsitstipas
RG: Ruud

________________________________________________
** = Not sure if I got all of the green ones right. You're welcome to check that yourselves.

Make what you will of it, but I found it interesting.

Well this is very good research and it’s what we mean when we say there needs to be context to the figures. So yes, Novak has had a good few dream draws at slams over the last few years, to the extent that he was able to garner 11 titles in his early to mid-thirties at the same speed as he won his 2-12 slam titles at his actual peak. The FO this year is only the most obvious example of a gimme. In golf terms, he arrived with the ball on the lip of the cup and only had to stand close enough to the ball and gasp at his good fortune it for it to drop.

Overall at the slams, Rafa has faced Novak 18 times, winning 11, and he’s faced Roger 14 times, winning 10.

Novak has faced Roger 16 times, winning 11. Even these stats need to be approached with caution.

I see that Roger has never beaten both Rafa and Novak at the same slam, and Novak has beaten his 2 rivals once, and Rafa has done this 4 times.

Rafa and Novak have won 88% of grand slams entered, with Rafa having played 4 fewer than Novak, despite being older, due to his many injuries. Roger has won 86% of the slams he entered..

 

[Nadalfan2013]

The only rivals for Nadal are his injuries.

 

[Kieran]

The only rivals for Nadal are his injuries.

Technically there’s a lot of truth in that. Injury knocked him out of 11 slams since he won his first - and that’s only the ones he couldn’t play. We’ll never forget Australia 2014, FO 2016, and other less unfortunately successful intrusions by injury..

 

[Moxie]

I revisited this to show it to another poster. I realize an error. I should have noted that Rafa beat Roger in the SFs of RG 2005, his first Major win. So, he beat Puerta in the final, but he beat Roger in the SF, which was considered to be the "true final," at the time.