Retirements

Verdasco: ‘I’m very proud to form part of this generation’

There was a time when it was nigh-on impossible to be one of the top four seeds at a big tournament if your name was not Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray. These four stars practically had the later rounds of the biggest events all to themselves.

Many tried, but the result was always the same; one of the members of the so-called Big 4 had their way with them. In fact, between 2005 and 2020, there were only five players who managed to win Grand Slams besides those four men.

Those players were Marat Safin (2005 Australian Open), Juan Martín del Potro (2009 US Open), Stan Wawrinka (2014 Australian Open, 2015 Roland Garros, 2016 US Open), Marin Cilic (2014 US Open) and Dominic Thiem (2020 US Open). The remaining 56 titles ended up in the hands of Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray.

One of the players who attempted to break the spell was Fernando Verdasco. In 2009, at the Australian Open he managed to defeat the then World No. 4, Murray, in the fourth round, and did likewise to the No. 7, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in the quarter-finals. Awaiting him in the final four was his compatriot and World No. 1, Rafael Nadal.

Might his career have changed had he won that match? Verdasco eventually lost 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-7(1), 6-4 after a gruelling five hours and 10 minutes of tennis.

“If I’d gone on to beat Federer in the final, yes, because I would have had a Grand Slam title and I think once you win a Grand Slam title, your life and career change,” Verdasco said.

His stellar performance in Melbourne allowed him to break into the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time. However, he believes that the outcome of that semi-final wouldn’t have changed his career unless he had taken down Federer in the final.

“As I think Mark Philippoussis said, nobody remembers the finalists of the tournaments, they only remember the champions, Verdasco added.”

It was a reality that anyone not lucky enough to be a member of the Big 4 had to live with: “So if I had beaten Rafa in that semi-final and then lost to Roger in the final, I don’t think it would have changed much, honestly,” Verdasco continued, after the last match of his professional career in Doha. “But that’s the toughest part of my generation, to win a Grand Slam or an [ATP] Masters [1000], you had to beat two or three of the best players of all time.”

When Verdasco broke into the Top 10, the ‘mortals’ were made up of Nikolay Davidenko (5), Andy Roddick (6), Del Potro (7), Gilles Simon (8) and David Nalbandian (10), along with the Spaniard himself, who was No. 9. Hot on their heels were the likes of James Blake (11), Gael Monfils (12), David Ferrer (13), Tsonga (14), Robin Soderling (15) and Wawrinka (16).

Everyone was looking for their own slice of the glory, but they were always thwarted by the same four players.

“In the end, that was the hardest part for my generation; you were playing against the best three players in history at the same time and normally at the big tournaments you had to beat them all, it was incredible,” Verdasco said. “In 2009, from the start of the year until Cincinnati, I lost in the quarter-finals of all the Masters 1000s I played in. I lost to Roger, Rafa or Murray in all of them.”

Verdasco remembers it like it was yesterday. At Indian Wells it was Federer who knocked him out in the quarters, while in Miami Murray did likewise in the same round. In Monte-Carlo, also in the quarters, it was Djokovic’s turn. In Rome and Madrid, Nadal.

“In the end, of course it was a bit disheartening, but when you see the career those guys had and that they’re the best in history in terms of Grand Slams, far better than Pete Sampras who was the best before my generation, you realise that you were losing to the best of all time,” he said before making one last observation. “In the end, I’m very proud to form part of this generation of extraordinary players and to be able to share my career with all of them for 20 or 25 years.”

His swansong as a professional tennis player came alongside one of those great players. Djokovic teamed up with him in Doha, where he said his final goodbye to the ATP Tour.

“I was talking to Novak, thanking him for playing with me,” Verdasco said. “He was thanking me for choosing to play with him at my last tournament. We’ve always had a good relationship and when we were talking we said, who would have guessed when we played together for the first time in 2006, 18 years ago, that I would retire in Doha in 2025 with him? I think these are the great things about sport and in life, in the end, the memories stay with you forever.”