The year is 2018, and despite winning his first Grand Slam 15 years ago at the ripe age of 21, Roger Federer is STILL winning major tennis titles.

The Swiss superstar added another Australian Open to his collection at the start of this year, which now totals at a ridiculous 20 Grand Slam singles honours.

And his long-time rival Rafael Nadal isn't that far behind him, himself winning 16 Grand Slam's, 10 of them coming on his favoured surface of clay in the French Open at Roland Garros, where he will go to defend his crown next week.

In the last eight years, only two players outside of the 'big four' of the tennis game [Federer, Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic] have managed to get their hands on a Grand Slam.

Federer's fellow countryman Stan Wawrinka notched the Australian Open in 2014, the French Open in 2015 and the U.S. Open in 2016, whilst the hard-hitting Croat Marin Cilic claimed the U.S. Open in 2014.

There is an exciting crop of young talent waiting in the wings to win the first Slam of their careers, but they just can't seem to get the better of the two legends of the game, and if they keep their current form up, the only way anyone else will win a major Slam will be for both Federer and Nadal to retire!

Two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin believes the 'Next Gen' aren't doing enough to challenge the elite level players and they need to be more aggressive and stand up to their compatriots.

“How it’s possible that one is 36 years old and the other 31 and they’re still winning and crushing everybody and chopping everybody off,” said Safin.

“They are superstars. What’s wrong with the juniors?

“They need to start to bite already.”

Despite these comments, the Russian did name one rising star who he holds in high esteem and believes can be the first to break the dominance of the big boys.

“For me [it is Alexander] Zverev," stated Safin.

“Zverev has a good coach, and he’s No 3 in the world. He can manage so we’ll see.

“The rest we’ll wait until next year.”

German wonderkid Zverev is only 21 years of age but with eight career titles already has shot up to third in the world rankings behind Federer and Nadal, with Bavarian International and Madrid Open championships in his 2018 collection.

He will need a miracle to dethrone the 'king of clay' Nadal in Paris if the two square off though!