Novak Djokovic is the greatest male tennis player of all time in the opinion of many fans, pundits and former players. He is quite possibly the greatest player full stop, with his tally of Grand Slam wins standing at 24, the joint-highest total achieved by any player in the history of the game. Only Margaret Court can match that total but only 11 of her wins were during the Open Era, so it is easy to make the case, on a statistical basis alone, that Djokovic is the best of the best.
He holds so many records across so many different areas and metrics of the game, with one of the most impressive of those, of course, being the fact that he stands clear of Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer in terms of the total number of Grand Slam victories. In addition, he has been the world’s number one player for more weeks than anyone else (428 heading into the 2025 season). He has also spent longer in the top two and top three than any player in history.
There are far too many records to mention, and whilst his latest piece of history is not as impressive as those stats detailed, it is, nonetheless, yet another one to add to the list. On Wednesday the 15th of January 2025 the Serbian maestro beat Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria in the second round at the Australian Open.
That feat alone is hardly a surprise, Faria being a 21-year-old with a world ranking outside the top 100. If anything, the shock was that Djokovic was momentarily given a scare when the underdog won the second set. However, if we zoom out from the match as a single entity and look at the bigger picture, we see yet another tennis record has passed from the hands of Federer to the 24-time Grand Slam champion.
Most Grand Slam Matches
The 3-1 (6-1, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2) win by Djokovic was the 430th time he had competed in a singles match at a Grand Slam. That moves him one ahead of his Swiss rival, who last played in a major back in 2021, at Wimbledon. No player, male or female, can match the Serbian’s total and, of course, it is a total he is sure to extend this season and very possibly in the years to come yet.
Djokovic himself declared his love of the game and said “It’s been over 20 years that I’ve been competing in Grand Slams at the highest level.” He added that he felt “blessed to be making another record.” He is seeded just seventh for this tournament but it is one that he has won a staggering 10 times. That is yet another record he holds and he certainly still has it within him to overcome the younger generation at this event.
One Match, Two Records
Djokovic flattens Faria in Melbourne second round https://t.co/x3re75GG3R pic.twitter.com/mwLzhrFiN5
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 15, 2025
In winning his second-round clash with Faria, the tennis GOAT, now coached by Andy Murray, made not one, but two pieces of history. As well as being his 430th match at the four majors in singles tennis, it was also his 150th Grand Slam victory since turning 30. No other player, once again, male or female, has managed that feat, which really is testament to his incredible longevity and exceptional ability on all surfaces.
In other sports the likes of Jimmy Anderson in cricket and Cristiano Ronaldo in football arguably got better in their 30s. It is hard to say really whether Djokovic has done that, as he won four Slams in a row, and five out of six (making the final in the other) in 2015 and 2016, when in his late 20s. But against that, he won three of the four majors in both 2021 (when he missed out at the US Open) and again in 2023 (when Wimbledon prevented him from winning the calendar Grand Slam).
He was well into his 30s at that stage and also won two out of four Grand Slams in both 2018 and 2019 when his 20s were behind him. There is no escaping the fact that Djokovic is a phenomenon and, like him or loathe him, there are many of his records that will not be beaten for a long, long time. We don’t like to say ever, because that’s a really long time but, perhaps it will be the case.
Nadal Third in Overall Matches
Rafa Nadal sits third in terms of overall Grand Slam matches played, behind the other two aforementioned members of tennis’s big three. The Spaniard, who retired in November 2024, won 314 times at the majors (Djokovic has 379 after his win over Faria). He lost 44 times, meaning in total he played in 358 matches, the plurality of which, of course, came at the French Open.
Nadal played 116 times at Roland-Garros, winning an astonishing 97% of the time (four losses). His next highest number of matches came at the Australian, where he had 93 wins. What is perhaps counterintuitive about Djokovic’s stats is that he has been beaten so many more times in Slams than Nadal.
As said, the Spaniard lost just 44 times, whereas Djokovic has been beaten 51 times already and that number will increase. For the record, Federer won 369 and lost 60 of his 429 singles contests at the big four events.
To end with another surprising stat about all this, one might assume that Djokovic would have played more matches at the Australian Open than any other Slam. After all, he has 10 wins there, compared to a mere seven at Wimbledon and a barely worth mentioning four in New York and three in Paris.
But, in fact, like Nadal, it is at the French Open where he has played the most Grand Slam singles matches. It is the only Slam where he has managed to compete every season since his career in the majors began and he has played 112 times there. That compares to just 103 in Melbourne (all these stats excluding 2025), 109 at Wimbledon and 104 in New York. How much longer can Djokovic keep competing? Time will tell.