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Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are professional tennis players.
Beginning in 2003, for more than 20 years, these men won most of the major tennis contests.
They are the most successful male tennis players in history.
They have won more championships than people ever thought possible.
They are considered the best of all time.
They are called the Big Three.
On today's Spotlight we look at how these three tennis players improved tennis.
We see how Federer, Nadal and Djokovic forced each other to play better.
We learn about their greatest games.
We try to answer the biggest question of all.
What is next for tennis after the big three?
Tennis is a game in which one player swings a racket to hit a ball.
The racket has a mesh face with tight strings attached to a grip.
The ball is covered with felt.
The ball must fly over a net.
The net stretches across the center of the playing area, or court.
The court is shaped like a long box.
The other player must hit the ball back before it bounces twice.
Otherwise, he loses the point.
He can also lose the point if his shot hits the net or if the ball lands outside the court.
There were excellent male tennis players before the Big Three.
Famous players like Rod Laver, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, and Pete Sampras won many contests.
But no one won as many games or as often as the Big Three.
The four most important contests in tennis are called Grand Slam Championships.
They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
Roger Federer won 20 Grand Slam contests.
Rafael Nadal won 22.
Novak Djokovic won 24.
Sampras won 14 Grand Slams by 2002.
His victories were the most by anyone other than the Big Three.
No one thought Sampras' record would be broken.
But the Big Three broke all the records of previous male players.
The ultimate test of a tennis player is to beat anyone on any surface.
Not many players could do this.
The four Grand Slam contests used to be played only on grass and clay.
But the US Open and Australian Open switched to hard courts in the 1970s and 1980s.
Three unique surfaces make it much harder to win all four Grand Slam events.
Clay is the slowest surface.
The ball does not bounce as fast.
It bounces higher with more spin.
Players run a lot more.
Players need good defense on clay.
Hard courts are made with an acrylic coating over a concrete or asphalt base.
Hard courts are faster than clay courts.
The ball bounces a little slower on clay.
Someone good at all areas of tennis does well on hard courts.
Grass is the fastest surface.
The ball bounces very low.
Players who hit the ball hard prefer grass.
The Big Three were successful on all these types of courts.
Roger Federer is from Switzerland.
He started playing professional tennis before Nadal or Djokovic.
He became the best player in the world in just a few years.
Many people loved his graceful style of play.
It seemed effortless.
He looked like he was floating on the tennis court.
Writer Christopher Clary said, There was the beauty of his game.
Rafael Nadal is from Spain.
He started winning tennis courts a few years after Federer.
Nadal had a different style than Federer.
He is left-handed and Federer is right-handed.
Nadal hit the ball harder than Federer.
He spun the ball more.
He ran very hard.
He was very powerful."
Some people favored Federer's graceful style.
But others liked Nadal's intense approach.
They became the two best players in the world.
Their followers were very supportive.
They loved watching the two battle each other.
Federer and Nadal were incredibly popular.
Everyone wanted to see them win.
Novak Djokovic was not as popular when he started playing.
Many tennis followers did not want him to beat Federer or Nadal.
Djokovic's style was unusual.
He never seemed to get tired.
He raced all over the court.
It was difficult for his opponent to hit the ball past him.
Djokovic started beating Nadal and Federer.
Djokovic soon became the top player in the world.
Before he started winning, it would have been easy for Djokovic to feel it was too difficult to compete.
He was an unknown player from Serbia.
Nadal and Federer were already so good.
They were extremely popular.
No one wanted Djokovic to beat them.
But Djokovic refused to give up.
He worked harder to become as good as Nadal and Federer.
Finally, he started to beat them.
After a few years, he defeated them regularly.
Djokovic said about playing Federer and Nadal, They were so good in their craft.
They were so mentally strong and so steady.
They forced me to get as good as them."
Each member of the Big Three challenged the others to play better.
If they did not improve, they lost.
Nadal had to get better to beat Federer.
Djokovic had to improve to beat both.
They played tough games against each other.
In 2008, Naval played Federer in the final match of Wimbledon.
It lasted almost five hours.
The tennis was wonderful.
Finally, Naval won.
It is one of the longest matches in Wimbledon history.
In 2012, Nadal played Djokovic in the Australian Open final.
It lasted almost six hours.
Both players fought as hard as they could.
It was a test of strength and will.
Djokovic won a close victory.
There are only a few tennis players in history who have won all four Grand Slam tournaments.
But only Andre Agassi and the Big Three have won all four Grand Slam contests on different surfaces.
Djokovic and Nadal won all four Grand Slam titles at least twice.
Djokovic is the only male player to win all four Grand Slam tournaments at least three times.
Goran Ivanovic, Djokovic's coach, said, He wants more and more.
That is why he wants everything perfect on the court and in practice.
That is why he has unbelievable results.
The greatness of Federer and Nadal forced Djokovic to make himself better.
He achieved things that had never been done because he had to.
It was as if two mountains stood in his way.
He had no choice but to climb over them.
Now is a unique time in tennis history.
The big three no longer control the game.
Young players, who are not as well known or as popular, win now.
Other sports have gained interest.
The future of tennis is uncertain.
It could lose some of its followers.
It might never be as popular again.
But there was a time of more than 20 years that the same three players won all the major competitions.
Almost no one else could beat them.
They were the best who ever played.
They were the Big Three.
Who is your favorite tennis player?
Do you think tennis will suffer without the big three?
You can leave a comment on our website, spotlightenglish.com.
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The writer of this program was Peter Anderson.
The producer was Dan Christman.
The voices you heard were from the United States.
All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight.
This program is called The Big Three.
We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program.
Goodbye.
