Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic are new age warriors now

Thanks for the memories Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, but it’s the Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray show now. Murray’s Wimbledon triumph on Sunday, when he beat Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in the final, was Britain’s first by a male player since Fred Perry in 1936.

But it also re-emphasised the new dominance at the Grand Slam level of the world’s two top players, both aged 26 and born just seven days apart. Djokovic and Murray have now contested three of the last four Grand Slam finals. Meanwhile, Federer, the deposed champion of Wimbledon who was knocked out in the second round this time around, will find himself at number five in the world on Monday, his lowest ranking for over a decade.

Nadal, like Federer a former world number one, was shocked in the first round at Wimbledon for his earliest ever exit at a major in 10 years as a professional. In all 33 of the last 34 Grand Slams have been won by Djokovic, Murray, Federer and Nadal, but seven of the last 11 have been taken by the world number one Serb and the world number two British player.

This year alone, Djokovic has won his fourth Australian Open, lost a tight five-setter to Nadal in the French Open semifinals before his runner-up spot to Murray at Wimbledon. Murray was runner-up to Djokovic in Melbourne and skipped Paris because of a back injury. But Federer, the holder of a record 17 majors, was a beaten semifinalist in Australia and a quarterfinalist at the French Open.

Nadal missed the Australian Open through injury and is under pressure never to play Wimbledon again to protect his increasingly troublesome knees. Mats Wilander, the Swedish star who won seven Grand Slam titles in the 1980s, believes Murray and Djokovic are now the undisputed superpowers of the sport.

‘I think Andy Murray can win six, seven, eight, nine, 10 majors. The only man that can stop him is Novak Djokovic,’ said the Swede. ‘These two are going to decide who gets ahead in the history books. I hope they both decide this is a rivalry that’s just going to grow and become great on all the different surfaces, in all four majors.’