Roger Federer’s Grand Slam record will be under threat in 2020, according to Milos Raonic.
Canadian star Raonic came close to winning a major tournament himself three years ago but lost to Andy Murray in the Wimbledon final.
The 28-year-old’s opportunities have been limited because of the dominance of the top three players in the world.
Federer has won 20 Grand Slam titles, one more than Rafael Nadal and four greater than Novak Djokovic.
But Raonic reckons Nadal and Djokovic will add to their hauls next season.
“Who do I see winning the 2020 French Open? At this point its hard to see anyone else other than Nadal winning that title,” Raonic told tennishead.
“But his Achilles heel can be his health.
“Who is the favourite to win Australia and Wimbledon in 2020? Probably Novak, hoping he doesn’t have lingering issues with his left shoulder.
“So I think if I had to say over the next nine months who statistically will catch up with Roger’s total – most likely Rafa will.
“Will Novak get closer to Roger – most likely he will.”
Raonic was unable to prevent Team World losing 13-11 in the Laver Cup last weekend.
The former world No 3 lost to Alexander Zverev in the Championship deciding match – a bitter blow which was tough to swallow.
“At the Laver Cup I hadn’t played since Montreal then my first match was against the guy who had just won the US Open (Nadal),” he said.
“So I had no clue where my game was at and hadn’t played any matches to see what was working for me and then its like going to play Rafa who’s spinning his forehand to your backhand all day and making you run around. So that kind of stuff is pretty intense.
“So then second match (after Rafa) your playing Sacha (Zverev) who’s top eight in the world and you’re playing for the whole (Laver Cup) thing and you have six guys alongside you who have put all their energy and emotion into it, a captain and a coach as well that have put everything they’ve got into it and you don’t want to let them down.
“So those kind of things definitely rile you up. I don’t know if it’s a Grand Slam final (in terms of emotion) but it definitely beats out those early stages of a Grand slam tournament.”
