Roger Federer, the magical non-human being who was born to hit random yellow coloured balls exactly where he wanted to hit it.
Rafael Nadal, the alien, with insane skills, a ridiculous will to win and the best forehand the game of tennis has ever seen, and probably ever will (no Del Potro, Nadal's is better).
Novak Djokovic, the man-machine, the never-ending train of never-giveup-ness, the man who defines having no particular strength to be the actual strength.
Andy Murray, the discerning Brit, born to continue the long line of nearly-theres from the country, only to topple that script and write one splendid one of his own, not once, not twice, but over and over again.
The big four is done they said: one a spent force, too old to play a young man's game, the other, bogged down by injuries and the call of father time. The third, changed by the changing nature of life and the final one, brought to his knees by the fulfilment of his desire, of winning that ultimate crown called Wimbledon, not once, but twice, much to the roaring approval of a home crowd that had waited, over and over again (yes, you Tim Henman) to call a champions their own.
That big era of "is this even of this world" tennis was over they said: hey, time waits for no-one right, well, not unless you are named Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal.
These two phenoms of the world of tennis debunked that age theory, won the first two Grand Slams of the year and basically showed the world why they are the two best players the game has ever seen.
Yes, yes, Rod Laver was great, and so was Pete Sampras and many of the other insanely-awesome players of their era; but Laver did not have to beat Djokovic and Murray and Nadal to win a Grand Slam title and Sampras didn't have to go through a Federer, Djokovic and Murray, just to stand tall at the end of it all, lifting a major cup in the air and savouring the wonderfulness of it all.
That is precisely what Federer and Nadal have done and they, astoundingly, continue to do so.
Who the heck are Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Nick Kyrgios, Milos Raonic or any of the other young pretenders; they aren't even worthy of lacing the boots (or trademarked, highly-expensive Nike shoes) of these two, right?
The two greatest ever to play the game; the two rivals, who have gone toe to toe for nearly 15 years, and treated every single tennis fan to some of the greatest matches imaginable – hey how about that Wimbledon final? You know the one I'm talking about – and inexplicably, continue to do so.
What brilliance it is that these two, with a combined age of 66, still continue to rule the roost, having won the first two majors of 2017. The fact that Djokovic, another one of those all-time greats don't forget, and Murray still consider these two as their biggest hurdles to a Grand Slam is a testament to their greatness, and you know they are going to turn it on, on these hallowed grass courts of SW19.
Nadal might have been awful at Wimbledon in the recent past and he might have last won the title seven years ago, when "Tik Tok" topped the charts and "Waka Waka" was actually a popular song, but, lest we forget, as we always seem to when it comes to the quiet Spaniard, this is Nadal we are talking about – the 15-time Grand Slam champion, the winner of the French Open an unimaginable ten times, including a few weeks back, and the runner-up at the 2017 Australian Open, and someone who would have had another major to his name if not for the brilliance of that freestyling, single-backhand, gliding-on-the-court of a Swiss freak.
Oh yeah, that would be Federer of course, the man who decided to skip the clay-court season – you know it is because he knew only one man was going to win at Roland Garros – after starting the year in stunning form.
And then you have a 12-time Grand Slam winner, the man who has dominated the sport over the past few years, and the current world number one and defending champion of this most wonderful Grand Slam of any year.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray – pick your side and get ready for some of the best tennis you can imagine.
Federer training at Wimbledon
