Taylor Fritz’s coach confessed that the end of the Big Three era has helped the younger generation step it up at Grand Slams.

Roger Federer retired in 2022 while Rafael Nadal has barely played over the last couple of years. Novak Djokovic has been flying the flat for the Big Three of late but he crashed out in the third round and this is the first season since 2017 in which he hasn’t won a Grand Slam title.

After Fritz advanced to his first Major semi-final, Mike Russell admitted: “No, it helps a lot, because those three, the Big Three, they dominated the sport for decades. So now, you know, they’re stepping away. All of a sudden there’s new blood in the mix. All of a sudden you have new champions.

“All the guys see that, hey, it could be my turn now. Not to say they can’t beat those guys, but they really did dominate to the point where they were never losing matches. Now you’ve got new winners, new guys coming up, and all these guys, including Taylor, they think they can win Grand Slams.”