Exactly a week after Andy Murray reached the milestone it is Novak Djokovic’s turn to celebrate his 33rd birthday.
The world No.1 has managed to establish himself as one of the sports all-time greats with 79 ATP titles to his name, including 17 grand slams. He has held the top spot on the ATP rankings for 282 weeks and is also a former Davis Cup champion. To mark Djokovic’s birthday, here are 10 facts you may not know about his record-breaking career.
- Djokovic is the only man in the Open Era to have won grand slam titles over three different decades. Between 2000-2009 he won his maiden grand slam at the 2008 Australian Open, a further 15 during 2010-2019 and one so far in the 2020s. Historically the only other man to ever achieve this milestone was Ken Rosewall between 1953-1972.
- The most successful grand slam for the Serbian has been the Australian Open which he has won a record eight times. He is only the third man to win the same grand slam eight or more times. The other two are Rafael Nadal with 12 French Open titles and Roger Federer with eight at Wimbledon.
- In 2018 Djokovic won the Cincinnati Masters for the first time in his career. By doing so the Serbian became the first and so far only man to have won each of the nine Masters 1000 tournaments at least once since the series was introduced back in 1990. Overall, he has 34 Masters titles to his name to place him second on the all-time list behind Nadal (35). He is also one of only three players to have earned more than 300 wins in those events with his win-loss record currently standing at 355-79.
Djokovic’s Masters titles
Indian Wells – 5
Miami – 6
Monte Carlo – 2
Madrid – 3
Rome – 4
Rogers Cup – 4
Cincinnati – 1
Shanghai – 4
Paris 5 - No other player – male or female – has won more prize money than Djokovic in the history of the sport. His current earnings stand at $143,631,560. $13M more than second place Federer and 50M more than women’s record holder Serena Williams. During 2015 alone, he made a season record earnings of $21,646,145.
- He is only the sixth player to record 900 wins on the ATP Tour in history. Djokovic achieved the milestone earlier this year at the Australian Open. Coincidentally, his win-loss record on his 900th victory was identical to rival Nadal with 900-187 (.829 winning rate). That figure is higher than Federer who posted a winning rate of 900-204 on his 900th victory (815 winning rate). So far in his career, Djokovic has won 911 matches.
The 900 wins club
1) Jimmy Connors (USA)
2) Roger Federer (SUI)
3) Ivan Lendl (CZE/USA)
4) Rafael Nadal (ESP)
5) Guillermo Vilas (ARG)
6) Novak Djokovic (SRB) - Renowned for being a member of the prestigious Big Three there have been numerous arguments for and against which player should be called the Greatest Of All Time. Although Djokovic is the only member of the trio to currently have a winning record against the other two. He leads Nadal 29-26 and Federer 27-23. In grand slam finals alone, he boasts a winning 8-5 record against his two rivals.
The Big Three head-to-head
Djokovic Nadal Federer Djokovic N/A 29-26 27-23 Nadal 26-29 N/A 24-16 Federer 23-27 16-26 N/A - Whilst he doesn’t have the record for most titles won at the end-of-season ATP Finals, he is still the first and only person to have ever won the tournament four years in a row between 2012-2015. During that period he won 19 out of 20 matches played with his only loss being to Federer in 2015 during the round-robin stages. Overall Djokovic has won the ATP Finals five times (also champion in 2008), which is second behind Federer’s record of six trophies.
- A three-time Olympian, Djokovic remains the first and only Serbian player to have won an Olympic medal. He achieved the accolade at the 2008 Beijing Games where he defeated James Blake in the bronze medal play-off. Four years later he finished in fourth place after falling in straight sets to Juan Martin del Potro. The same player who knocked him out in the first round of the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Djokovic’s 2008 triumph makes him one of the first three Serbian athletes to win an Olympic medal since the country declared independence during the early 1990s.
- Against top-10 opposition, the world No.1 has impressively won 212 out of 309 meetings. Working out at a winning rate of 0.686 on the Career Fedex Index. This is a higher rate than both Federer (224-123/0.646) and Nadal (171-92/0.650). Out of those 212 wins, 14 of them were against players ranked No.1 in the world at the time.
- In 2016 Djokovic finally won his maiden French Open title in Paris. The triumph rewarded him with the unique honour of being the title holder of all four grand slam tournaments at the same time. Something that has only ever been achieved three times before on the men’s tour by Rod Laver (1962, 1969) and Ron Budge (1937 Wimbledon-1938 US Champs).
