Historical Figure
Novak Djokovic
b. 1987
Serbian tennis player (born 1987)
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Biography
Novak Djokovic is a Serbian professional tennis player. Djokovic has been ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for a record 428 weeks, finished as the year-end No. 1 a record eight times, and has been ranked No. 1 at least once in a year for a record 13 different years. He has won 101 ATP Tour–level singles titles, including a record 24 majors, a record 40 Masters, a record seven year-end championships, and an Olympic gold medal. Djokovic is the only man in tennis history to be the reigning champion of all four majors at once across three different surfaces. In singles, he is the only man to achieve a triple Career Grand Slam, and the only player to complete a Career Golden Masters, a feat he has accomplished twice. Djokovic is the only player in singles to have won all of the Big Titles over the course of his career.
Timeline
The story of Novak Djokovic, told in moments.
NATO bombs Serbia during the Kosovo War. Djokovic, 12, practices in a drained swimming pool converted to a tennis court. His family can't afford proper training. His father takes high-interest loans. In September, the boy moves to the Pilic tennis academy in Germany. Alone.
Wins his first Grand Slam at the Australian Open. Beats Federer in the semis, Tsonga in the final. He's 20. It snaps an 11-Slam streak held by Federer and Nadal. Three men now control the sport.
Wins the French Open to complete the career Grand Slam. He holds all four majors simultaneously. The first man to do it since Rod Laver in 1969. His ranking points hit 16,950. A number nobody has touched since.
Wins his 23rd Grand Slam title at the French Open. Passes Djokovic's own record to claim the all-time men's mark. He'd been deported from Australia the year before for refusing the COVID vaccine. Came back twelve months later and won that one too.
Wins gold at the Paris Olympics. It's the one title he'd never had. He drops to his knees on the clay, wraps himself in the Serbian flag, and cries. 24 Grand Slams. 40 Masters titles. 428 weeks at number one. The numbers are absurd even by the standards of his own era.
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