ATP's Big 4 has found common ground at Mutua Madrid Open

With Roger Federer and Andy Murray both missing the Monte Carlo title from their collections, and Federer also unable to claim the top prize in Rome over the years, there is one clay-court Masters event where they can add their names to the champions’ list alongside Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, two of their more accomplished peers on the surface.

The Madrid Open, being held this week, is the only non-hard-court Masters tournament everyone in the ATP’s Big 4 has won. In fact, since the tournament’s timing on the calendar was switched back in 2009 and moved from a fall indoor event to its current venue and surface, Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray have dominated. The only other player to win the tournament on clay besides them is Alexander Zverev, who broke the stranglehold last year.

As expected, Nadal holds the most titles over the past decade with four. In that first edition of the tournament on clay, though, the Spaniard was unable to give the home crowd something to cheer about as Federer defeated him in straight sets in the final. Up until that point, Federer had a 1-5 record against Nadal in Masters finals on clay, with his other victory coming two years prior in Hamburg, Germany, the tournament that was replaced by Madrid on the calendar.

Nadal didn’t have to wait long to win, though, as he turned the tables on Federer in the 2010 final. In what was a rare occurrence for arguably the greatest clay-court player of all time, Nadal was unable to defend his title, falling in the 2011 final. However, there was little anyone could do against Djokovic, who was in the midst of what would become a 41-match winning streak to start the season.

Federer re-emerged as the champion once again at the 2012 edition, which featured one of the most controversial decisions ever made for a tournament.

The surface was changed to a never-before-seen blue clay, which Nadal—notoriously resistant to disruption—and others were vocal against from the start. Federer took advantage of the open draw after earlier-than-expected losses by Nadal and Djokovic to win what would be his most recent Masters title on clay.

That blue phase was nixed after that one year, and Nadal claimed the next two titles. However, his quest for a three-peat was denied by an unlikely rival.

Riding the momentum of having won his first tournament on the dirt in Munich, Murray carried that form into Madrid, dropping only one set along the way and thrashing Nadal in straight sets in the final. The Scot made a return appearance to the championship match in 2016, but was stopped by Djokovic, who, in turn, fell to Nadal a year later in the semifinals.

Last year, as the top seed, Nadal fell to Dominic Thiem in the quarters. However, the Austrian couldn’t stop Zverev in the championship match—the first without at least one of the Big 4 since the tournament moved to clay.

Now, Federer is playing on the surface for the first time in three years, and Djokovic and Nadal are trying to put their mini-slumps behind them, while Murray is out as he recovers from hip surgery. Madrid holds a unique place for all of them, marking a spot on the clay where their careers have intertwined.