Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are the two most successful players ever at the Australian Open. Only one player has managed to beat them both in a single campaign, a feat which will never be repeated. Marat Safin defeated them both en route lifting the trophy in 2005.
Federer and Djokovic, with 6 and 10 Australian Open triumphs each, lead the charts for most titles in the first Slam of the season. They account for 16 of the last 20 editions of the tournament. Such has been their dominance that Safin is the only player to beat them both in a single AO campaign.
Djokovic is chasing a record-extending 25th Grand Slam and 11th Australian Open title in 2024. It will also be his 19th appearance at the event. He first featured in the 2005 edition as a qualifier, which was also his maiden main draw appearance in a Grand Slam. Playing under the flag of Serbia and Montenegro, interestingly he beat Stan Wawrinka in the qualifiers to secure a main draw entry. However, his run was cut short by a relentless Safin. The Russian thrashed him 6-0, 6-2, 6-1, in the first round.
Safin continued his good form and advanced to the semi-finals where he met the defending champion, Federer. This clash was a rematch of the 2004 Australian Open final. They battled for 4 hours and 38 minutes as Safin emerged victorious after 5 sets. He saved a match point in the fourth set tiebreak to triumph 5-7, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (6), 9-7. Safin went on to beat home favourite Lleyton Hewitt in the final to bag his second Grand Slam title.
Djokovic suffered another first-round exit in 2006 but made it to the 4th round in 2007. He bagged his first Grand Slam at the 2008 Australian Open and there was no looking back thereafter. After Safin’s win in 2005, only in 2009, 2014, and 2022 did someone else other than Federer or Djokovic lift the AO title. And neither Rafael Nadal (2009 and 2022) nor Stan Wawrinka (2014) beat both of them in the same edition, as Safin did in 2005.
Marat Safin joined by only one player in double over Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic
Regardless of the Grand Slam in question, only one person has matched Marat Safin. Unsurprisingly, Rafael Nadal is the only player to have defeated both Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in a single Majors campaign. He did it twice, in two consecutive editions of his favourite Slam event, the French Open.
When Djokovic entered the 2006 French Open, he was yet to cross the third round in any Grand Slam. However, in an inspired run, he felled three seeded opponents. Unfortunately for him back then, in the quarter-finals, he ran into Rafael Nadal, which happened to be the first of their record 59 matches against each other.
The Spaniard, seeded second, won the first two sets before Djokovic retired midway through the match. After beating Ivan Ljubicic in the semi-finals, Nadal faced Federer in the summit clash. The duo exchanged breadsticks before the former wrapped things up 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(4) to defend his title.
In the 2007 Roland Garros, Nadal and Djokovic, now seeded sixth, clashed in the semi-final. The defending champion again humbled the Serb in straight sets to set up a repeat of the 2006 final against Federer. Once again, Nadal got the best of the Swiss icon in four sets to make it a hat-trick of French Open titles. From then, until Federer retired, no one managed to match Nadal or Safin in beating Federer and Djokovic in the same edition of a Grand Slam.
