Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Roger Bassek.
Speaker 2: And I'm Alice Irasari. Spotlight uses a special English method
Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
Speaker 1: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic are professional tennis players.
Speaker 1: Beginning in two thousand and three, for more than twenty years,
Speaker 1: these men won most of the major tennis contests. They
Speaker 1: are the most successful male tennis players in history. They
Speaker 1: have won more championships than people ever thought possible. They
Speaker 1: are considered the best of all time. They are called
Speaker 1: the Big Three.
Speaker 2: On today's Spotlight, we look at how these three tennis
Speaker 2: players improved tennis. We see how Federer, naval and Djokovic
Speaker 2: forced each other to play better. We learn about their
Speaker 2: greatest games. We try to answer the biggest question of all,
Speaker 2: what is next for tennis after the Big Three.
Speaker 1: Tennis is a game in which one player swings a
Speaker 1: racket to hit a ball. The racket has a mesh
Speaker 1: face with tight strings attached to a grip. The ball
Speaker 1: is rubber covered with felt. The ball must fly over
Speaker 1: a net. The net stretches across the center of the
Speaker 1: playing area or court. The court is shaped like a
Speaker 1: long box. The other player must hit the ball back
Speaker 1: before it bounces twice, otherwise he loses the point. He
Speaker 1: can also lose the point if his shot hits the
Speaker 1: net or if the ball lands outside the court.
Speaker 2: There were excellent male tennis players before the Big Three.
Speaker 2: Famous players like Rod Laver, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and
Speaker 2: Pete Sampras won many contests, but no one won as
Speaker 2: many games or as often as the Big Three.
Speaker 1: The four most important contests in tennis are called Grand
Speaker 1: Slam Championships. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon,
Speaker 1: and the US Open. Roger Federer won twenty Grand Slam contests,
Speaker 1: Rafael Nadal won twenty two, Novak Djokovic won twenty four.
Speaker 1: Empress won fourteen Grand slams. By two thousand and two,
Speaker 1: his victories were the most by anyone other than the
Speaker 1: Big Three. No one thought Sampras's record would be broken,
Speaker 1: but the Big Three broke all the records of previous
Speaker 1: male players.
Speaker 2: The ultimate test of a tennis player is to beat
Speaker 2: anyone on any surface. Not many players could do this.
Speaker 2: The four Grand Slam contests used to be played only
Speaker 2: on grass and clay, but the US Open and Australian
Speaker 2: Open switched to hard courts in the nineteen seventies and
Speaker 2: nineteen eighties.
Speaker 1: Three unique surfaces make it much harder to win all
Speaker 1: four Grand Slam events. Clay is the slowest surface. The
Speaker 1: ball does not bounce as fast. It bounces higher with
Speaker 1: more spin, players run a lot more. Players need good
Speaker 1: defense on clay. Hard courts are made with an acrylic
Speaker 1: coding over a concrete or asphalt base. Hard courts are
Speaker 1: faster than clay courts. The ball bounce is a little
Speaker 1: lower than on clay. Someone good at all areas of
Speaker 1: tennis does well on hard courts. Grass is the fastest surface.
Speaker 1: The ball bounce is very low. Players who hit the
Speaker 1: ball hard prefer grass. The Big Three were successful on
Speaker 1: all these types of courts.
Speaker 2: Roger Federer is from Switzerland. He started playing professional tennis
Speaker 2: before Nadal or Djokovic. He became the best player in
Speaker 2: the world in just a few years. Many people loved
Speaker 2: his graceful style of play. It seemed effortless. He looked
Speaker 2: like he was floating on the tennis court. Writer Christopher
Speaker 2: Clary said.
Speaker 1: There was the beauty of his game, something closer to
Speaker 1: dance than tennis. Rafael Nadal is from Spain. He started
Speaker 1: winning tennis contests a few years after Federer. Nadal had
Speaker 1: a different style than Federer. He is left handed and
Speaker 1: Federer is right handed. Nadal hit the ball harder than Federer.
Speaker 1: He spun the ball more, He ran very hard. He
Speaker 1: was very powerful.
Speaker 2: Some people favored Federer's graceful style, but others liked Nadal's
Speaker 2: intense approach. They became the two best players in the world.
Speaker 2: Their followers were very supportive. He loved watching the two
Speaker 2: battle each other.
Speaker 1: Federer and Nadal were incredibly popular. Everyone wanted to see
Speaker 1: them win. Novak Djokovic was not as popular when he
Speaker 1: started playing. Many tennis followers did not want him to
Speaker 1: beat Federer or Nadal. Djokovic's style was unusual. He never
Speaker 1: seemed to get tired. He raced all over the court.
Speaker 1: It was difficult for his opponent to hit the ball
Speaker 1: past him. Djokovic started beating Nadal and Federer. Djokovic soon
Speaker 1: became the top player in the world.
Speaker 2: Before he started winning, it would have been easy for
Speaker 2: Djokovic to feel it was too difficult to compete. He
Speaker 2: was an unknown player from Serbia. Nadal and Federer were
Speaker 2: already so good they were extremely popular. No one wanted
Speaker 2: Djokovic to beat them, but Djokovic refused to give up.
Speaker 2: He worked harder to become as good as Nadal and Federer.
Speaker 2: Finally he started to beat them. After a few years,
Speaker 2: he defeated them regularly.
Speaker 1: Djokovic said about playing Federer and Nadal, they.
Speaker 3: Were so good in their craft. They were so mentally
Speaker 3: strong and so steady. They forced me to get as
Speaker 3: good as them.
Speaker 2: Each member of the Big three challenged the others to
Speaker 2: play better. If they did not improve, they lost. Nadal
Speaker 2: had to get better to beat Federer, Djokovic had to
Speaker 2: improve to beat both. They played tough games against each other.
Speaker 2: In two thousand and eight, Nadal played Federer in the
Speaker 2: final match of Wimbledon. It lasted almost five hours. The
Speaker 2: tennis was wonderful. Finally Naval won. It is one of
Speaker 2: the longest matches in Wimbledon history. In twenty twelve, Naval
Speaker 2: played Djokovic in the Australian Open final. It lasted almost
Speaker 2: six hours. Both players fought as hard as they could.
Speaker 2: It was a test of strength and will. Djokovic won
Speaker 2: a close victory.
Speaker 1: There are only a few tennis players in history who
Speaker 1: have won all four Grand Slam tournaments, but only Andre
Speaker 1: Agassy and the Big Three have won all four Grand
Speaker 1: Slam contests on different surfaces. Djokovic and Nadal won all
Speaker 1: four Grand Slam titles at least twice. Djokovic is the
Speaker 1: only male player to win all four Grand Slam tournaments
Speaker 1: at least three times.
Speaker 2: Gran Ivanisovich, Djokovic's coach, said.
Speaker 3: He wants more and more.
Speaker 1: That is why he wants everything perfect on the court
Speaker 1: and in practice. That is why he has unbelievable results.
Speaker 1: The greatness of Federer and Nadal forced Djokovic to make
Speaker 1: himself better. He achieved things that had never been done
Speaker 1: because he had to. It was as if two mountains
Speaker 1: stood in his way. He had no choice but to
Speaker 1: climb over them.
Speaker 2: Now is a unique time in tennis history. The Big
Speaker 2: Three no longer control the game. Young players who are
Speaker 2: not as well known or as popular win now. Other
Speaker 2: sports have gained interest. The future of tennis is uncertain.
Speaker 2: It could lose some of its fi followers. It might
Speaker 2: never be as popular again. But there was a time
Speaker 2: of more than twenty years that the same three players
Speaker 2: won all the major competitions. Almost no one else could
Speaker 2: beat them. They were the best who ever played. They
Speaker 2: were the Big Three.
Speaker 1: Who is your favorite tennis player? Do you think tennis
Speaker 1: will suffer without the Big Three? You can leave a
Speaker 1: comment on our website Spotlight English dot com. You can
Speaker 1: also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and x. You
Speaker 1: can also get our programs delivered directly to your Android
Speaker 1: or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
Speaker 2: The writer of this program was Peter Anderson. The producer
Speaker 2: was Dan Christman. The voices you heard were from the
Speaker 2: United States. Votes were adapted for this program and voiced
Speaker 2: by Spotlight. This program is called the Big Three.
Speaker 1: We hope you can join us again for the next
Speaker 1: Spotlight program. Goodbye,