GOAT RACE. Djokovic overtakes Lendl and closer to Federer for world no.1 record

Novak Djokovic started his fifth stint as world number one on 5^th November 2018. He has been at the top of the rankings for 48 weeks. In that period, he has compiled a 46-9 match winning record and won two Grand Slam titles. His wins at the Australian Open and Wimbledon took him to 16 Grand Slam titles. He is now four away from Roger Federer’s record of 20 major titles. The 32-year-old is also aiming to break another Swiss’ record for most weeks spent at number one.

Djokovic third on the all-time list

Novak started his 271^st week at number one this week. In doing so, he replaced Ivan Lendl in third place. He had spent a total of 270 weeks at number one in his career. The Czech-American player won 8 Grand Slam titles. With Ivan now behind him on the list, the Serbian only has two other records to beat before he can own the record outright. The world number one is behind Pete Sampras who spent 286 weeks at number one and the record holder Federer who has spent 310 weeks at the top in his career.

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The GOAT Race: Djokovic vs. Federer and Nadal

Both records will seem achievable to Djokovic who at 32 years old still has a lot of tennis left to play compared to 38-year-old. The Serbian, Federer and Rafael Nadal are often regarded as the greatest players of this era. With all three having broken the previous Grand Slam record of 14 titles held by Sampras, the race is on to see who will finish with the most titles. The 20-time Grand Slam champion has been ahead of the pack with 20 major titles but his record is under threat from the Spaniard who has 19 with Novak not too far behind at 16.

Now with Federer’s world number one record in his sights, Djokovic will be hoping he can stay at the top of the rankings. However, his position is under threat from Rafael. Currently ranked number two, the Spaniard is poised to overtake the world number one. The 19-time Grand Slam champion leads the Serbian in the ATP race to London rankings by almost 2000 points. He also has fewer points to defend in the remaining tournaments than the Serbian who will need to win some of the remaining tournaments and hope the Spaniard performs below his usual standards. The Serbian is set to play at the Rakuten Japan Open while Nadal is currently taking a break after featuring at the Laver Cup.

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Djokovic in Tokyo, ranking, and results in 2019

Now the world no.1, Novak has a 42-8 win-loss record in 2019. Novak is playing at the moment in Tokyo where he beat Alexei Popyrin 6-4 6-2.

Djokovic will face Soeda in the 2^nd round. They have never played each so far on the main tour.

Djokovic conquered 3 titles in 2019 at the Australian Open, in Madrid and in Wimbledon. Djokovic was the finalist in Rome.

Novak won 75 titles in his career: 43 on hard courts, 14 on clay courts, 12 on indoor courts and 6 on grass courts. (See the list of his titles)

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Roger Federer’s ranking and performance in 2019

Ranked no.3, Federer played his last match on the 3^rd of September when he lost to Grigor Dimitrov 3-6 6-4 3-6 6-4 6-2 in the quarter in U.S. Open.

This year the Swiss has a 43-7 win-loss record. Roger clinched 3 titles in 2019 in Dubai, in Miami and in Halle. Federer was the finalist in Indian Wells and in Wimbledon.

Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer played each other 49 times. The head to head is 27-22 for Djokovic.

The last time that they played each other, Novak Djokovic won 7-6⁵ 1-6 7-6⁴ 4-6 13-12³ in the final in Wimbledon in 14^th July 2019.