At the top of the ATP rankings for 378 cumulative weeks, the Serb on Monday set the new record for time spent as world number 1 (men and women combined), surpassing German icon Steffi Graf.
He settles a little more in the legend. Novak Djokovic, again at the top of the ATP rankings since his coronation at the Australian Open, granted himself, Monday, February 27, the record the number of weeks accumulated with the status of world number 1 (men and women combined), so far held by Steffi Graf (377 weeks). A historic performance which however seemed out of reach as the domination of the former German player had marked the 90s. But, obsessed with his desire to mark the history of the yellow ball, the 35-year-old Serb managed to climb the echelons of the world tennis pantheon.
Alongside the neo-record holder for nearly 15 years, Marian Vajda clearly identified what differentiated his protege from others. “His absolute determination to be the best. He knows his goal and knows how to go about it.” had assured thehistoric coach of Novak Djokovic, with whom he won 20 Grand Slams, in an interview published on the Novosti website, October 16, 2020. For Patrice Hagelauer, “the difference between great champions like Novak Djokovic and the others is the ambition that comes very early. The real ambition, the one you see on the field or in training. Not the one you poster in the media saying that we want to become the world number 1”explains the former coach of Yannick Noah.
A precocious and assumed ambition
The one we call today the “Joker” however, has never made a secret of his ambitions. During his first interview in Serbia, in 1994, the then 7-year-old tennis player declared that “tennis is a duty” for him. “The goal is to be number 1 in the world”then says the young Novak Djokovic.
Arnaud Clément, professional player from 1996 to 2012 and consultant for franceinfo: sport, was marked by his first meeting with the Serb, on September 14, 2004, in Bucharest. At 17, Novak Djokovic then won his very first match on the main circuit (2-6, 6-4, 6-4). “When we see him today, we say to ourselves that he is inhabited by the pursuit of records, by the fact of becoming the greatest in history, but he was already very young when he had not won any Grand Slam tournament”, remembers the French tennis player.
“He constantly progressed during his career and he is still progressing today, continues Arnaud Clement. When I faced him at the US Open in 2008, it was even more striking. I said to myself: ‘but what can I do to get out of this?’ I had no control. In front of me, I had an answer to absolutely everything I could come up with, even better.”
Outstanding mental strength
Revealed later that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the ambitious Serbian, considered arrogant at the beginning of his career, has never been unanimous with the general public. This fan disregard eventually became one of his greatest strengths. “Being the ‘unloved’ of the three fed himsays Patrice Hagelauer. He armored himself, he forged a shell. It looked like he was insensitive. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, they knew that people admired their talent. It was different for Djoko. But it was also in these difficult times, when the public openly supported Federer or Nadal, that Novak Djokovic played his best tennis.
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In terms of direct confrontation, the Serbian champion stands out compared to the other two legends. He is even the only tennis player in history to be able to boast of having more often won than lost against Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Indeed, Novak Djokovic totals 27 victories for 23 defeats against the Swiss and 30 successes for 29 losses against the Spaniard. Beyond having triumphed over his eternal rivals, the current leader of the ATP ranking has only missed three major tournaments during his career (US Open in 2017, Australian Open and US Open in 2022), unlike Roger Federer (7) and Rafael Nadal (11). A detail that was important in his takeover of the world rankings.
“Novak Djokovic may not be the most attractive player, but he surely has the most efficient tennis in history.”
Arnaud Clementat franceinfo: sport
The extreme regularity of “Joker” is also the fruit of many sacrifices made throughout his reign. “The way he trains, recovers, eats, hydrates… His whole life is orchestrated around tennis, underlines our consultant Arnaud Clément. He may have been the one who pushed all these little details to the highest point and that allowed him to get to this point today.” Even having spent the equivalent of seven years and two months in the place of world number 1, Novak Djokovic is still in search of success. One of the next on his list? The gold medal at the Paris Olympics, one of the rare trophies missing from his list.