Former Davis Cup captain nominates candidate to take over from Federer, Nadal and Djokovic

Wally Masur, a former Australian Grand Slam semi-finalist, has picked his compatriot Nick Kyrgios to be the next generation player to take over from the big four.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have dominated men's singles tennis for over a decade and were then joined by Andy Murray to make it the big four.

The quartet have won 36 of the last 41 men's singles Grand Slam titles with Stan Wawrinka, Juan Martin del Potro and Marin Cilic being the three players, who have managed to breach their dominance.

Federer and Nadal continue to dominate the game despite being in the latter stages of their careers and are currently ranked number one and two in the world respectively. Djokovic and Murray were the top two ranked players at the start of 2017, but are currently sidelined by injury.

A number of talented younger players have emerged on tour in recent years, but none have thus far made an impact or challenged the big four consistently. Alexander Zverev has been tipped as a future Grand Slam winner having on two Masters Series titles at 20, while Kyrgios is another player tipped to make it big in the game.

Masur believes Kyrgios has the talent and potential to break the deadlock and take over from the greatest of the current generation. He is confident that with the right combination of training and discipline on and off the court, his compatriot can reach the level of the Serbian, who has won 12 Grand Slam titles since emerging on the scene in 2003.

The likes of Djokovic and Murray turned professional in 2003 and 2005, respectively but had to wait until five and seven years respectively until they won their first Grand Slam title. Similarly, Masur believes Kyrgios, who turned pro in 2013 can get to their level with the right preparation.

"I'm backing Nick to have a big year, he's a phenomenal talent, we talk about the next gen of players coming through and from a potential perspective, for me, he's the one," Masur said, as quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald.

"But there's a lot to tennis, there's the lifestyle, the travel, the training, it's pretty monotonous and there's a real process behind it and you've got to get a lot of things right to absolutely maximise your potential.

"Everybody is on a journey, [Andy] Murray and Djokovic weren't born into greatness, they worked their way to it," he explained.

"It took them a while to settle into their game and comfortable in their own skin and maximise their potential to become grand slam winners and they've certainly done a pretty good job of that over the last decade."

"Nick is on a journey and we saw some incredibly positive signs over this summer. He's a top-10 player every day of the week and once you put yourself inside that top 10, anything is possible," the former Australian Davis Cup captain added.