On top of that, if you add former British No.1 Andy Murray into the mix given his own haul of three Grand Slams across his career, not since the Australian Open in 2019 have all four played in the same major tournament together.
In this article, we take a look at the injury history of each of the four and ponder how many more slams and other tournaments each would have won if they’d managed to stay healthy across their respective careers.
Overall tournament record
Roger Federer injury history
Out of the top three male tennis players of this past generation, Swiss great Federer has potentially suffered with the longest injury list to this point of his career.
Blessed with a relaxed style of play compared to the other three players on the list, the former world No.1 had stayed relatively injury free during the first part of his career, only suffering sizeable setbacks with a foot injury at Indian Wells in 2007 and a back strain at the Tennis Masters Cup in 2008.
Though since 2010, the 38-year-old has suffered major setbacks in every year other than 2016. Back injuries have been a particular common theme throughout.
Now pulling out of Wimbledon in 2022 for the first-ever time since his career really started to take off all the way back in 1998, Federer has in recent years especially struggled with a plethora of knocks and niggles further down his body.
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In fact, he confirmed via Instagram in June 2020 that he had once again undergone knee surgery, a third operation in the space of 18 months which has severely hindered his playing time since.
That can be seen in the table below as the Swiss star played in just six competitive tournaments over 2020 and 2021 combined, whilst during 2022, he’s yet to feature at any tournaments whatsoever.
Rafael Nadal injury history
Since the age of 17 when he started on the ATP tour, Nadal has struggled with injuries.
The most chronic coming from a stress facture in his foot 18 years ago which has served to be a very painful problem ever since.
The injury revealed his case of Müller-Weiss disease, a degenerative condition that weakens bone in certain areas of the foot and only gets worse with more and more physical exercise, not ideal for an elite level tennis player.
His latest flare up of the injury at the Rome Masters just prior to his French Open win this season, highlighted Nadal’s frustration. His usual calm demeanour making way for a figure sat in distress after every match.
It’s also the same injury that kept him out of the game for six months in 2021 with those close to him reaffirming that possible retirement could soon follow.
On top of that, other injuries have come and gone over the years, thanks mostly to the Spanish star’s aggressive and powerful style of play.
Knee injuries have been a particular feature, a likely advisory of his playing style especially when competing on clay.
With Nadal set to battle for his first Wimbledon title since 2010 at the 2022 edition, it’s highly likely that this could be the last time fans in SW19 see Nadal on court, after he claimed in an interview in May this year that his injuries leave him in pain ’every single day'.
Novak Djokovic injury history
Compared to the other three tennis players on this list, Serbian superstar Djokovic has suffered relatively few major injuries during his career to date.
To highlight that, since making his Grand Slam debut at the 2005 Australian Open, Djokovic has played in 64 of the 66 majors since, missing just the 2017 US Open through apparent injury concerns.
The other major he missed was the 2022 Australian Open due to his unvaccinated status during the Covid-19 pandemic, something that could also affect his inclusion at the 2022 US Open given the USA’s strict entry requirements that are still in place.
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Overall though, despite his usually controversial use of medical time-outs during big matches earlier in his career, Djokovic looks the most likely player out of these four to starve off retirement for the longest.
As such, despite a recurring right elbow injury and general ‘wear-and-tear’ problems due to his energetic and powerful playing style, many still fancy the Serbian star to finish his career with the most Grand Slam titles of any male player in tennis history.
Andy Murray injury history
Unlike Djokovic, British star Murray has struggled massively throughout his career with injuries, especially across the past four years.
Now finally making his way back to the business end of tournaments after reaching the final of the Stuttgart Open in early June - his first final on grass since winning Wimbledon in 2016 - Murray looks in good shape to make a decent run at this year’s showpiece competition.
That said, the Scot hasn’t tasted tournament victory since winning the Antwerp Open all the way back in October 2019 on the ATP 250 tour.
That’s due to a severe hip injury that since 2017, has left the former world No.1 in an immeasurable amount of pain. Twice now he’s had to have serious hip surgery and back before the 2019 Australian Open, he even announced that he planned to retire that season at Wimbledon in an emotional press conference.
A lengthy recovery process has seen Murray return to the highest level of tennis since however, whilst the injuries haven’t knocked Murray’s confidence of winning another major.
Heading into his home Grand Slam of Wimbledon for the 14th time this year, he holds all the motivation in the world to claim a third major win in SW19.
“That [winning another Wimbledon title] is part of the motivation to still be out there competing,” Murray told Bloomberg. “I know, obviously, that’s going to be an unbelievably difficult thing to do, but I do still believe that I’ve got great tennis in me. I know it’s going to be even harder to win Wimbledon than it was five, six years ago. But I still believe, and I’m still working and training as hard as I can to try and achieve that goal.”
