Former world No 1 feels gap between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, and the chasing pack has narrowed

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Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal pointing

He admits it won’t be a surprise if Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal add more Grand Slams to their CVs in 2021, but Juan Carlos Ferrero believes there is no longer a gulf between those two and the chasing pack.

The duo along with Roger Federer have had a stranglehold on the majors in recent years as they won 13 consecutive tournaments between them. However, that sequence was broken at this year’s US Open when Dominic Thiem beat Alexander Zverev in the final to win his maiden Grand Slam.

Djokovic and Nadal, though, still won a major each this year with the former victorious at the Australian Open and the Spaniard capturing a 13th French Open title.

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Former world No 1 Ferrero says the pair are still the ones to beat, but feels likes of Thiem, Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas can now beat them on any given day.

“Djokovic and Nadal have shown us this year that they still have the ambition and the body to compete for the biggest titles in our sport,” he told Tennis Majors.

“If they win some more Grand Slam titles it would not be a surprise, but I feel that in 2021 there will be other favourites, other players with increasingly good chances to win Slams, not just Djokovic and Nadal as it has been before. Thiem would be one of those guys for sure.”

He added: “I still consider them favourites, but not as much as before. I think people see that players like Thiem, Tsitsipas or Zverev already have good chances of winning against them as well.”

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