Golden trio tightening grip on men's game

Roger Federer of Switzerland during the men's singles semi-final match of the French Open tennis tournament against Rafael Nadal of Spain at the Roland Garros in Paris, France on June 7, 2019. (Photo by AFLO)

LONDON (Reuters) - It has been more than 15 years since Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic began their collection of Grand Slam titles and the bad news for anyone eyeing tennis's big prizes is their stranglehold on men's tennis is as tight as ever.

Nadal, a few days after turning 33, proved unstoppable at Roland Garros for a 12th time on Sunday as he crushed Dominic Thiem with the same frightening intensity that he displayed when beating Mariano Puerta to win his first French Open in 2005.