But three years after winning in Melbourne in 2008, Djokovic secured his second slam crown at the 2011 Australian Open, and he has been as dominant a force as the sport has ever seen, accumulating 23 majors since that first victory in Australia 16 years ago. Djokovic, who at the time was known for lacking stamina in the most stressful moments against the best players, was thoroughly dominated by his great rivals Federer and Nadal early on. Speaking of the Big Three, while it’s literally impossible to conceive of him struggling to win the big titles now, Djokovic also had his share of slam futility after his first major triumph, at the 2008 Australian Open when he was 20 years old. And after he retired, it appeared that no man would come close to eclipsing his record haul of 14 slams … but it just so happened Big Three of Federer, Nadal and Novak Djokovic were ready to take the reins from Sampras right away.Ĭoco Gauff smiles during an interview on Friday in Melbourne.

Yet it all came together once again at Wimbledon in 1993 and he’d go on to win 13 major titles over the next 10 years. But Sampras struggled with his desire and found it difficult to rediscover the magic of that initial Open triumph in the years immediately after. But he became a household name in short order as he unleashed a never-before-seen display of powerful serving backed up by an incandescent style of all-court tennis en route to the title where he took out Ivan Lendl, McEnroe and Andre Agassi. When Pete Sampras exploded onto the scene at the US Open in 1990 at 19 years old, he was the unheralded 12th seed and, outside from the most passionate tennis fans at the time, barely known to the viewing public. Of course, from that point on, Serena dominated at the majors, never going consecutive seasons without a slam through 2017, and is now considered, along with Helen Wills Moody, Graf, and Navratilova, in the conversation of the greatest women’s player of all time. It took Serena nearly three years for her to notch her second major title, on the clay at the 2002 French Open – which, ironically, was Serena’s worst surface. Williams, who was the last American teenager to win the US Open before Gauff’s triumph, struggled in the big events immediately after her shocking Open win over her sister Venus in 1999.

One need look no further than Gauff’s childhood idol, Serena Williams. But, more often than not, it has taken some time to become a dominant force at the biggest events. Sure, there have been prolific champions who, once winning their first slam never looked back – Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert, Björn Borg, Martina Navratilova, John McEnroe and Steffi Graf all come to mind.

Roadblocks the game