The beginning of the end

The Big Four were always going to come into the year's first Grand Slam knowing fully well that their days of dominance are drawing to a close, if not already a thing of the past

Those salivating at the prospect of a “Big Four” — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray — reunion at the 2019 Australian Open may want to embrace, however reluctantly, a sobering reality: the rendezvous just might not happen. 

It all seemed magnificently poised only a few weeks ago, when the quartet with a staggering 54 majors between them, announced that they would be competing together at one, only for the second time since Wimbledon in 2017. The equation has altered somewhat since: Murray, coming back from hip surgery, was ousted rather easily by Daniil Medvedev in the second