Novak Djokovic won the Paris Masters title on Sunday, which should essentially clinch the year-end World No.1 ranking for him. But with the win, Djokovic is surely guaranteed a top 3 finish in the rankings even if he fails in the first round of the upcoming ATP Finals in Turin. And that would make him once again equal a massive Roger Federer record in 2023, which he has held for many years when it comes to the world rankings.
Roger Federer ensured that he finished in the top 3 of the rankings for 15 calendar years. In 2024, Novak Djokovic will have the opportunity to actually break this all-time record as it would be the 16th time that he would manage to do so. In the past, Djokovic has finished in the top 3 of the rankings in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
From 2007-2010, Novak Djokovic ended up as the third-best player in the world in each of those calendar years. In that period, he won only 1 Grand Slam title but managed to bag other ATP Masters and 500 ones to remain in contention to be the best player in the world. He also made it to multiple Grand Slam finals and semifinals.
But 2011 was the first year in which Novak Djokovic became the year-end World No.1, breaking the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal duopoly with 3 Grand Slam title wins. The Serbian superstar continued his good run at the top in 2012 too, defending his No.1 ranking by winning the Australian Open and the ATP Finals among other big titles. Djokovic also made it to 2 Grand Slam finals, which was incredible consistency.
2013 and 2014 were similar to 2012 in which the Serb managed to win 1 Grand Slam at least in a calendar year. But Djokovic managed to get back to the year-end No.1 ranking in 2014. And then 2015, as many would know, is once again one of the greatest tennis seasons of all-time by any player, which Djokovic made happen.
From January 2015 to June 2016, Djokovic won 5 out of 6 Grand Slams. That made him one of those rare players to hold all 4 Majors at the same time (2015 and 2016 Australian Opens, 2015 Wimbledon, 2015 US Open and 2016 French Open). Despite a blip of sorts in the second half of the 2016 season, Djokovic finished second in the rankings by December of that year.
2017 was arguably Djokovic’s worst-ever year but managed to make up for that with a scintillating second half of 2018, winning the Wimbledon and US Open back-to-back. That made him regain the World No.1 ranking. Djokovic’s consistency was visible in 2019 and 2020 as during the period, he won the Australian Open 2019 and 2020 and Wimbledon 2019 titles. By the end of 2020, Djokovic again finished on top with Nadal second in the year-end rankings.
2021 belonged totally to Novak Djokovic as Rafael Nadal’s fortunes fell while Roger Federer was injured. Djokovic nearly won 4 Grand Slams as he only lost the US Open final match that year in Majors. It is a similar story in 2023 for him.
Novak Djokovic has broken trailblazer Roger Federer’s records
Since the 2000s, Roger Federer laid the benchmarks for several records. It was believed that Rafael Nadal would be the man to break all of those. However, Novak Djokovic made a position of his own and his physical and mental agility took him eventually above both of them.
Federer was virtually untouchable with the records he possessed earlier such as 310 weeks as the World’s No.1 men’s tennis player. Djokovic is all set to reach the magical 400 weeks landmark at the top. The Serb also has beaten the Swiss when it comes to being the best when it comes to winning 3 Grand Slams in a calendar year, multiple times. While Federer could do it thrice in his career, in 2023, Djokovic has done it for the fourth time.
When it comes to Grand Slam semifinal appearances, Novak Djokovic went past Roger Federer with 47 of those at the US Open 2023. Federer’s last and 46th one was at the Australian Open 2020, where ironically he was beaten by Djokovic. At the Australian Open 2024, Novak Djokovic could become the oldest man in the 21st century to win a Grand Slam as well as almost level Roger Federer with the most Grand Slam match wins in history.
