With Roger Federer having recently retired and an injury-ridden Rafael Nadal losing early on, it was just Novak Djokovic who remained out of the 'big three' heading into the latter rounds of the Australian Open.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, though, the surviving member of the big three went on to win his 22nd Grand Slam, equalling the record of Nadal. Federer finished his career last year with a similarly incredible 20 Grand Slams.

The longevity of the big three over the years has been sensational, dating all the way back to 2003 when Federer won his first Grand Slam. The following year, the Swiss won every Slam except for the French as he dominated the sport. Then, in 2005, Nadal entered the fray as he picked up his first French Open of a ridiculous 14 to date.

Djokovic only won his first Slam in 2008, ending a three-year dominance of Nadal and Federer across all competitions.

Djokovic vs Nadal vs Federer

Since then, the big three have won a minimum of two of the Grand Slams per year, although this figure is usually three or four. For a short period, Andy Murray offered somewhat of a challenge to the throne as he got to rank one in the world, winning three Grand Slams, but he could never challenge as consistently as the others and eventually injuries took their toll.

Djokovic’s record equalling 22nd Slam has once more sparked new life into the seemingly never-ending debate as to who amongst the big three is the greatest tennis player.

Now, on reddit, a detailed statistics comparison has appeared to settle the debate once and for all.

Image: Who is tennis' GOAT?

Included amongst the figures are categories such as Grand Slams, weeks as #1, consecutive weeks as #1, peak ELO ranking and a general win/loss percentage.

In all, there are 30 categories displayed with each of the three given a ranking for each category, and based on the data, Djokovic dominates. Of the 30 categories, he ranks first or joint first in 27 of them. In comparison, Nadal and Federer only rank first three times each.

Some of the notable wins for Djokovic include 374 weeks spent as world number one, a peak ELO ranking of 2,629, 65 big titles won and a W/L % of 83,56. He has also won the most matches amongst the trio when playing each other, winning 57. Nadal and Federer have won 53 and 39 respectively.

Of course, if some other categories were chosen then results could look a bit different, but no doubt Djokovic is winning some major categories based on these statistics. Equally, he and Nadal are still playing so they still have time to extend their records.

Djokovic is 35 and Nadal 36, so you would say they are coming to the end of their careers, but at the moment, unless Nadal’s recent injury is serious, you can’t see them slowing down for at least a couple of years. This is especially true of Djokovic, who is still ridiculously flexible and nimble on court.

The debate on the big three will be a never-ending one and everyone will have their personal favourite. The trio have dominated tennis for a combined 20 years and this looks set to continue with Djokovic and Nadal for a couple more yet.

Despite the statistics on show, total career Grand Slams is the title both men will want to hold at the end of their careers as this accolade is still certainly up for grabs. On to the French Open next!

You can find all of the latest tennis news and rumours right here.