1. Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray will have played in the each of the last 18 Grand Slam finals but never against each other.

Read that again. This is one of those stats that doesn’t seem real. Even after checking it five times, it still boggles the mind. Murray and Nadal will face each other in a Friday semifinal at the French Open, ensuring that one of them will reach a major final for the 18th consecutive time. The last Slam final that didn’t feature either player was in 2009, when Juan Martin Del Potro beat Roger Federer to win the U.S. Open.

But over those 18 major finals, Nadal and Murray have never played each other. Friday’s meeting will be their sixth in a quarterfinal or semifinal, but it’s never been Nadal vs. Murray with a Slam on the line. Given the 4+ years of major finals that have included one of them, that’s crazy.

Earlier this year, we detailed the oddity of Murray and Nadal going three years without facing each other. That drought was snapped in Rome, when Nadal won their quarterfinal match in three sets.

(Thanks to Christopher Clarey for the stat.)

2. Add Roger Federer to the list and it’s 36 of the last 37 majors with one of those three players.

All but one major final since the 2005 Australian Open (Marit Safin d. Lleyton Hewitt) has included Nadal, Murray or Federer.

3. Replace Murray with Novak Djokovic and it’s 37 for the last 37 with either Federer, Nadal or Djokovic.

Novak Djokovic was conspicuous in his absence from the previous stats, which is interesting, as he has six Grand Slam titles and six more finals appearances. But the outlier in the previous stat was the 2008 Australian Open final, in which Djokovic defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. So subtract Murray (two wins, five runner-ups) and it’s even more domination from the biggest of the big three. (It also means that since Murray has never played Nadal in a final, his seven major finals have been against either Federer or Djokovic.)

What’s the takeaway from this? Even with the Stan Wawrinka Australian Open shocker or David Ferrer sneaking into last year’s French Open final or Juan Martin Del Potro’s out-of-nowhere U.S. Open win five years ago, men’s tennis is still as top heavy as ever.