Ashraf Ali Siddiqui looks at an amazing career
Phenomenal Djokovic – The Serbian colossus had no equal in tennis and he remained at the helm of the sport for a very long time considering that it is very hard to stay there for that long. The 37-year old Serbian ace claimed his 23rd major through his victory over Casper Ruud in the French Open final breaking a tie with his longtime rival Rafael Nadal for the men’s record. Across all of tennis, Djokovic now trails only Margaret Court, who won 24 women’s titles in the 1960s and ’70s and he is level with Serena Williams. His incredible career is hard to match even when he is stacked up against Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
His prize money is estimated to be in the range of $170-80 million and that is tennis’ best mark by a substantial margin ahead of Nadal’s $135 million, Federer’s $131 million and fourth-place Andy Murray’s $64 million as well as Serena Williams’ $95 million known to be at the top on the women’s side. Djokovic also set the ATP Tour’s single-season prize-money record with $21.6 million in 2015; he is at an ATP-best $5.1 million this year.
Approximately $340 million are Djokovic’s career earnings off the court, from endorsements, appearances, licensing and memorabilia income, including more than $20 million over the last 12 months and puts him in range of Nadal’s estimated $390 million but they are both left far behind by Federer who had piled up more than $990 million by the time he announced his retirement in September 2022. Federer is one of just seven athletes to have made at least $1 billion in total earnings while still active in their sports.
Djokovic has won three French Open titles: 2016, 2021 and 2023. Only two players in tennis’ open era, starting in 1968, have more: Nadal with 14, and Björn Borg, with six in the 1970s and ’80s. The latest triumph also makes Djokovic—with ten Australian Open titles, seven at Wimbledon and three at the U.S. Open—the only men’s player to have won each of the four majors at least three times. Federer was victorious at Roland-Garros just once in 2009 and Nadal has claimed only two titles at both the Australian Open and the U.S. Open. Meanwhile, Andre Agassi is the only other men’s player to have won all four majors even once during tennis’ open era.
387 is the number of weeks Djokovic has spent as the top-ranked singles player beating Federer’s 310 for the men’s record and edging Steffi Graf’s 377 for the all-time high. But Federer still has the mark for consecutive weeks at No. 1 with 237; Djokovic’s best stretch was 122 weeks from 2014 to 2016, the fourth-longest run on the men’s side. The number of years Djokovic finished as the ATP Tour’s No. 1 for seven years. Federer and Nadal have both been the year-end No. 1 five times one back of second-place Pete Sampras, who claimed the honour from 1993 through 1998.
In his career he won 94 ATP singles titles tying ties him with Ivan Lendl for the third-best total ever, after Jimmy Connors (109) and Federer (103) and just ahead of the fifth-place Nadal (92). But Djokovic has the edge in Masters 1000 events: the nine tournaments considered the ATP Tour’s most prestigious outside of the four majors. His 38 titles are a record, besting Nadal’s 36 and Federer’s 28 and he is the only player to have won each of the nine events—a feat he has achieved twice over.
Djokovic’s career match winning percentage is a mind boggling 83.4 per cent. That is the best mark in ATP Tour history, edging Nadal’s 82.9%, Borg’s 82.4% and Federer’s 82%. Djokovic has won 1,058 singles matches in all, the ATP’s fifth-best total ever, after Connors (1,274), Federer (1,251), Nadal (1,068) and Lendl (1,068). His total of 245 match wins against players ranked in the top ten also stands as an ATP record, topping Federer’s 224 and Nadal’s 186. Djokovic has won 30 matches over Nadal in his career against 29 losses. He also had a winning record against Federer, 27-23. The combined number of Grand Slam singles titles won by Djokovic, Nadal and Federer is 65 out of a possible 79 dating to Federer’s maiden win at Wimbledon in 2003. That number might have been even higher if Djokovic had not missed last year’s U.S. Open because of his refusal to get the Covid-19 vaccine. He also sat out the 2022 Australian Open that was won by Nadal. The Weekender
