CHANGEOVER

An award-winning tennis writer tells the story of the end of one epic era in the sport, and the birth of another.

For more than two decades, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer collectively dominated men's tennis. The "Big Three" swept aside generation after generation of young hopefuls for so long, it became difficult to envision what the game would even look like when they finally put down their racquets.

Then came 2024the first year since 2002 that none of them won a major tournamentand a technicolor future was revealed. The Grand Slams were evenly divided by a pair of prodigies in their early twenties: the effervescent showman Carlos Alcaraz, whose seemingly infinite variety of shots won him the French Open and Wimbledon, and the relentlessly cool Jannik Sinner, whose power and precision secured him the Australian Open and US Open even amid a doping controversy. Behind them, a slew of other contenders tried to muscle into the space left by the Big Three, only to watch the transcendentally gifted Alcaraz and Sinner swiftly installing their new regime. All the while, the old guard Novak Djokovic dug in his heels, winning an Olympic gold medal as he tried to delay their takeover.

Fans of elevated sports journalism won't want to miss this debut by a writer on the rise. Punctuated with humor, brimming with insight, and rooted in a true fan's love of the game, Changeover is Giri Nathan's captivating primer to a loud new rivalry and the next decade of the sport.

Giri Nathan is a staff writer and cofounder at Defector Media. His writing has appeared in New York magazine, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The New York Times, National Geographic, The New Yorker, and The Believer. He is the senior correspondent at tennis outlet The Second Serve. In 2022, he received the Tom Perrotta Prize for Tennis Journalism. His work was selected for the 2025 editions of The Year's Best Sports Writing as well as The Best American Food and Travel Writing. Follow him on X @girinathan for his latest stories.