The men's tennis GOAT chase is over

With Rafa Nadal announcing his retirement yesterday, only Novak Djokovic remains among the “big three”.

This is absurdly reductive, but I always felt that Roger Federer made the sport look easy while Rafael Nadal showed us how and why it’s so hard. Early on, I appreciated Nadal for bringing out Federer’s best. Then I appreciated him even more for surpassing him. He was my favorite tennis player to watch, ever, and the tour won’t be the same.

He won his first Grand Slam during the first year of my career, so his rise to prominence timed exactly with my rise to independence. There’s no through line here other than seeing him retire definitely has me thinking about my own expiration date and what I want to do with the back half of my career. No answers today, only reflection.

I like making graphs, so I made two about the men’s Grand Slam chase featuring Federer, Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. The first one shows their respective climbs over time, while the second one shows the distance they each had to conquer to reach the top over time. Enjoy!