Novak Djoković

[Damian]

[Damian]

Djokovic Ties Federer On 310 Weeks At No. 1 In FedEx ATP Rankings

Spoiler:

Novak Djokovic has today equalled Roger Federer’s all-time record for most weeks at No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. The Serbian has now held the top spot for 310 weeks over five different stints.

ALL-TIME WEEKS AT NO. 1

No. 1 Player
Total Weeks
Longest Streak
1=) Novak Djokovic (SRB)
310
122 weeks
1=) Roger Federer (SUI)
310
237 weeks
3) Pete Sampras (USA)
286
102 weeks
4) Ivan Lendl (CZE)
270
157 weeks
5) Jimmy Connors (USA)
268
160 weeks
Djokovic first rose to No. 1 aged 24 years and 43 days on 4 July 2011, and spent a personal-best 122 consecutive weeks at the summit of the FedEx ATP Rankings between 7 July 2014 and 6 November 2016.

By lifting his ninth Australian Open crown (d. Medvedev) two weeks ago, Djokovic guaranteed that he would surpass Federer's weeks at No. 1 record on 8 March. The Serbian's success at Melbourne Park has underpinned his record run as World No. 1.


The 34-year-old Djokovic has compiled a 387-53 win-loss record as World No. 1, including a 117-30 mark against Top 10 opponents and a 39-13 record in tour-level finals.

DJOKOVIC AT NO. 1 - Take a closer look at Djokovic's match wins, Top 10 and finals records during his five stints at No. 1.

Stints At No. 1
W-L Record
vs. Top 10
Finals Record
4 July 2011-8 July 2012
63-12 (.840)
18-9 (.667)
4-4
5 November 2012-6 October 2013
62-9 (.873)
18-6 (.750)
5-2
7 July 2014-6 November 2016
167-17 (.908)
60-9 (.870)
21-5
5 November 2018-3 November 2019
58-10 (.792)
13-4 (.857)
5-2
3 February 2020-present*
37-5 (.881)
8-1 (.888)
4-0
Totals
387-53 (.880)
117-30 (.796)
39-13

*The FedEx ATP Rankings were frozen between 23 March 2020 and 23 August 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic
Djokovic is one of 26 players in the history of the FedEx ATP Rankings to hold the top spot (since 23 August 1973). He finished 2020 as year-end No. 1 for the sixth time (also 2011-12, '14-15 and '18), tying the record of Pete Sampras (1993-98).

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/djokovi ... p-rankings

[DUN I LOVE]

#1: Novak wyrównał wynik Rogera.


Pinterest

310 - Roger Federer, Novak Djoković
286 - Pete Sampras
270 - Ivan Lendl
268 - Jimmy Connors

[Damian]

"THE PERFECT PLAYER": HOW ONE WRITER SAW NOVAK DJOKOVIC, 14 YEARS AGO

Spoiler:

Within a week, Novak Djokovic will eclipse Roger Federer and secure one of the most prestigious records in tennis: most weeks ranked at No. 1. It is, almost by definition, the most convincing measure of a player’s day-in, day-out superiority painted on the large canvas of an entire career.

I had my first good look at Djokovic some 14 years ago, while covering the 2007 Indian Wells Masters. The experience led me to write a blog post with the headline “The Perfect Player.” Fans still bring up or reference that story, so I thought it only fitting when Djokovic tied the record to trot it out as a tribute of sorts. Other than dropping some thoughts on Richard Gasquet that led the original piece, and some light editing of material that is not relevant, this is exactly what I wrote.—PB


Novak Djokovic, circa 2007. (Getty Images)

. . . I went out to take a close look at Djokovic today, in his match against Julian Benneteau, a Frenchman who’s been playing very well here by following a simple and often lethal formula—make few errors and force your opponent to win the match by making the shots that he knows he must in order to win.

I arrived at Stadium Court 2 at 3-all, while most of the fans were watching Andy Murray bang on Nikolay Davydenko in the big house. I took a seat right behind the north baseline, just three rows up from the wall behind the court, among a handful of big-bellied senior citizens, tanning their chicken-wing arms and backs on the green benches.

The first thing I jotted in my notebook, as Djokovic whacked a backhand that earned him a break of serve for 5-3, was “great trunk rotation, often punctuated by a guttural exhalation.” Trunk rotation is a big thing for me, has been ever since I first saw the best practitioner, Miloslav “Big Cat” Mecir. That guy did not appear to ever run (he was always just there, waiting for the ball) and he did not appear to swing a racquet hard enough to break an electric-eye beam.

But the ball came off Mecir’s strings with the pop of a champagne cork, and unexpected pace. Djoker is just as clean, yet he takes a bigger cut at the ball and is less disposed to counterpunching than was Mecir. So he ends up hitting a heavier, more dangerous ball. But trunk rotation only rises to maximum efficiency with great timing, and that’s the Djoker’s other deep, subtle talent. The combination of timing and rotation yield maximum oomph without maximum swing speed. This is a pretty good definition of stroking efficiency.

Serving for the set, Djoker fell behind love-40, at which point he let out a visceral roar and, enraged, flung his cap to the court. This gesture appeared to end the curse, for he won the next two points with fierce, inside-out, forehand winners, each of them having every mark of a go-for-broke shot, but without the desperation. This is one cool kid. He got back to deuce with yet another big, inside-out forehand, but this time the ball also skipped off the let cord.

“S***!,” Benneteau cried. Then, perhaps recalling that he’s French, he amended it to, “Merde!”


Djokovic would win all 10 sets he played, including this one against a frustrated David Ferrer, on his way to the final. (Getty Images)

A group of shirtless college kids, with their baseball caps worn facing the wrong direction, as per current campus-correctness, wandered in and sat down to watch. Benneteau was playing well enough to force Djokovic’s hand, and each time the latter made an error—or hit a winner—he punctuated it with a war cry or a clenched fist. He’s an emotional guy, but somehow it never corrupts his stroke work, or finds expression as a poor decision, a hasty decision or a puzzling decision—a problem faced by many other players.

Often, guys who play with a great deal of emotion are perfectionists; that was John McEnroe’s lifelong mantra, as well as the convenient, all-purpose excuse for his tantrums. Andy Murray and Djokovic, among others, are like that too, and their biggest enemy is the self-same perfectionism that has brought them this far. Their challenge is to keep that perfectionism from becoming a destructive force. Djokovic seems to have a handle on this, because his game doesn’t fluctuate a great deal. Those outbursts—they're just lip service to the perfectionism he is keeping at bay.

And here’s something else. I noticed watching Richard Gasquet that his feet are very busy, sometimes working like flippers as he hits the ball. I thought it telling that Djoker’s feet are active as well, yet it’s always a critical, split-second later than in a guy like Gasquet. That is, Djoker buys an extra, useful moment of stillness while his swing is still in progress, and that enables him to whack the ball with a shade more power and accuracy.

Djoker broke Benneteau easily in the first game of the second set, and then crushed some gigunda serves to hold. The Djokovic serve is a thing of beauty, streamlined as a Brancusi sculpture, lethal as the strike of a cobra. It is a serve very much like that of Pete Sampras, although it probably is a shade slower. Djoker lines up with his feet nearly parallel to the baseline, his front, left foot so far ahead of his right that his calf appears to be bowed. As he begins his no-frills, leisurely toss, he shifts his weight slightly to his back foot—just enough to free up that distended left leg to respond to his deep knee bend, then act as a piston to pump his body up and forward. The motion is seamless, gathering force and speed that maxes out as he makes contact.


In a semifinal showdown with fellow rising star Andy Murray, Djokovic gave no quarter, winning 6-2, 6-3. (Getty Images)

The racquet appears to swallow the ball before it spits it back out with explosive force—egg-shaped if Djokovic is going for the big kicker; distended like a yellow cartoon bullet if it’s a hard, flat one. Ka-boom! When Djoker blasted another one that helped him go up 2-0, it left Benneteau shaking his head, a man in sorry communion with his impending doom.

It was at this point that I jotted down that most famous line in the literature of rock criticism. After getting his first look at little-known rocker Bruce Springsteen, rock critic Jon Landau wrote: “I saw my rock 'n' roll past flash before my eyes. And I saw something else: I saw rock ‘n’ roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.”

The games began to flow quickly; Benneteau was losing blood fast and nothing he did would stem the tide. A lot of this was because of Djokovic’s ability to compete—to press the attack without relenting or allowing his focus to dim. Perfect execution is a high-wire act; let a sliver of doubt or distraction enter your consciousness and you fall off the string.

On this day, though, the Djoker was not about to fall. My next note is an aside written as Djokovic starts serving the fourth game of the second set: The PA announcer comes on and booms out: “. . . And then, Czech teenage sensation Nicole Vaidisova, will be giving autographs over at the Tennis Warehouse tent!”

I swear, by the time I finished jotting that note, Djokovic was up 4-0. When Benneteau held for 1-4, I had the feeling that Djokovic was taking a breather. He then ran out the next two games and the match, 6-3, 6-1.

Did Benneteau play into Djokovic’s hands? It depends on how you look at it. The way I saw it, he held up the match, showed it to Djoker, and, in effect, said: If you can take it, it’s yours. And Djokovic took it.


Only Rafael Nadal, just a few months before his 21st birthday, would stop the 19-year-old Serbian at the 2007 Indian Wells tournament. (Getty Images)

I wandered away thinking I had just observed the Perfect Player, so I figured, what the hail, I may as well tell the guy. The ATP hooked me up with Djokovic. Mainly, I was interested in learning, in a little more detail, how a guy with very little access to top tennis training, and the resources it requires, ended up owning a game that’s cleaner than a child’s plate on spaghetti night.

I sat down with Djokovic in an empty office off the player lounge. In case you’re interested, he has an impressive, almost old-school (1950s) look, enhanced by the erect carriage of a soldier. He has no hairstyle—just short, dark hair of even length all around. It's a Spartan look. What you may not see on television is that he has very finely made features that are as perfectly balanced as his game, although his eyes are a little close together. He’s friendly and direct. I told him that I wasn’t there to kiss his butt, but I thought he was as close to the Perfect Player as I had ever seen, and asked if that was a matter of nature or nurture.

First, he laughed at my disclaimer. Then he said, “I can say in one hand that it is destiny. In Serbia, we never had a Top 15 player after Boba (Slobodan Zivoinovic, who was ranked as high as No. 19), so it was hard for me to develop and succeed. But it was a half-and-half thing between my talent and my first coach’s work, so I was very lucky to have this coach.”

That mentor was a woman, Jelena Gencic, who had also worked with Monica Seles and at one point traveled with Goran Ivanisevic (I met her briefly). Djokovic says that Gencic gave him the “basic things” and watched over him like a hawk between the ages of 6 and 11, after which the family brain trust decided to allow him to go off to the former Yugoslav star Nikki Pilic’s tennis academy in Europe (as per Gencic’s advice), where he rubbed elbows with the likes of Ivanisevic and Boris Becker.

“It was difficult for my family to leave a child of 12 in another country, but after the first few days the uncle who took me to Munich, and I was left for myself. But it was a thing I needed to do.”



Djokovic originally played a one-handed backhand, but he described himself as a “skinny” kid who didn’t make enough power, and thus always found himself on the defensive. So he adopted the two-hander. Everything else, more or less, just continued to develop naturally. Pilic, who had helped Ivanisevic with his serve (“You know how he’s serving,” Djokovic asked, laughing), also fine-tuned the Djokovic delivery.

The only other thing that changed as Djokovic began to make his move in the pros was his forehand. He had a good run in Paris in 2005. But when it was over, Gencic pulled him aside and told him: “You’re playing great, but when you have a chance to finish the point with my forehand you use too much spin. Make it flatter.”

And of his mental toughness, Djokovic said: “I matured a lot. . .I am trying to hold my emotions as much as I can, but that’s just me. I like to scream on the court. I like to fight. I like to compete.”

And what did he think about this “Perfect Player” theory?

He laughed again. “I can’t say I’m the perfect tennis player. Nobody can be perfect and I think I have a lot to improve on (he cited the serve, making the most of opportunities, and attacking the net).”

So perhaps he isn’t perfect, but he’s a spectacularly gifted player who’s not going to be undone by his perfectionism, either. And that’s as perfect as anyone has a right to ask.

https://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2021/03 ... ago/93149/

[Damian]

[Damian]

Trzeba się pakować za chwilę...

[Starigniter]

Teraz w Serbii to chyba już święto narodowe...
Gratulacje dla Novaka i jego zespołu.

[Damian]

How A ‘Golden Child’ Became The Longest-Reigning Champ In ATP History

Spoiler:

One day in June 1992, a skinny five-year-old boy stood behind the fence of a tennis court in a small mountain hamlet in Serbia watching a junior tennis clinic. The coach, Jelena Gencic, had a background in art history and moonlighted producing arts and culture programming for Serbia’s state-owned television network. Gencic invited the boy to join the clinic. She knew talent when she saw it — Gencic coached Monica Seles early in her career. By the end of his first afternoon of drills, as the story goes, Gencic knew she had a world-class talent on her hands.

The boy’s name was Novak Djokovic (the name means son of Djoko in Serbian, Djoko in this case being Djoko Damjanovic, one of Novak’s paternal ancestors) and his parents owned a pizzeria and pancake restaurant across the road from the tennis courts. As Chris Bowers reports in his book Novak Djokovic: The Sporting Statesman, Gencic marched the boy over to his parent’s restaurant and told them, “You have a golden child… by the time he’s 17, he’ll be in the top five in the world.”

Novak bloomed later than she predicted — his ranking ranged from No. 515 to No. 128 at 17. But consider how prescient and audacious Gencic’s prediction was. At the time, Yugoslavia had splintered and the Balkan wars of the 1990s would cripple the region for most of the decade.

By any measure, Serbia was a poor country at that time, with a per capita GDP of just $2,767. But here we are nearly 30 years later confronting a remarkable feat that even Gencic couldn’t have imagined: the boy from a humble background, who emerged from war-torn Serbia, has now been No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings for an astonishing 311 weeks — longer than anyone else in the sport.

The same qualities that Gencic noticed in his very first lesson are the ones that have propelled his remarkable career: the footwork, the concentration, and, above all else the hunger to succeed. Just 26 men have reached No. 1 since the FedEx ATP Rankings were established in 1973. With all due respect to those champions, none were quite as hungry to stay at the top as Novak Djokovic.

"You have a golden child… by the time he’s 17, he’ll be in the top five in the world."
Jelena Gencic
He’s fought off the competition with vigour and panache, ruffling feathers at times along the way. He treated us to hilarious impersonations of other players, his parents made brash predictions that seemed improbable but all came true. He ate blades of grass on Centre Court at Wimbledon, he tore his shirts after wins like a pro wrestler, he implored crowds to recognise his brilliance and blew them kisses too. He kicked ass, made no apologies, and spoke from the heart.

Consider the Mt. Everest-like ascent it took for him to first capture the No. 1 FedEx ATP Ranking, in July 2011. He beat Andy Murray and Roger Federer en route to winning the Australian Open. Then he beat Federer again to win Dubai. Just for fun, he then beat Federer and Rafael Nadal to win the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

He followed that up by beating Nadal to win Miami, then beat the Spaniard on clay in the finals of the Mutua Madrid Open and the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, feats akin to subduing an angry crocodile blindfolded. The Barron of Belgrade then capped a 48-1 start by beating Nadal in the final of Wimbledon, where he celebrated the win and his first ever No. 1 ranking by devouring a few blades of grass.

“This is what I’m born for, to be a tennis champion,” he said at the time. “We all know the situation in our country, how it was with the wars… we had a tough way to go through, that made us mentally strong.”

After the win, he received a hero’s welcome in Belgrade, where an estimated 100,000 people turned out to celebrate with him. But he didn’t rest on his laurels. After becoming No. 1, he won back-to-back titles in Montreal and Cincinnati and then capped off one of the most remarkable years in tennis history by beating Federer and Nadal en route to his first US Open title. He was on fire, but it was just the first few weeks of what would become 311 weeks of hand-to-hand combat against the world’s best players.

To grasp the enormity of Djokovic’s achievement one must contemplate not only the greatness of the champions who came before his era, but also the shark-infested waters he’s navigated during his career.

Imagine the pantheon of champions driving on a racetrack. Only nine men have stayed at No. 1 for at least 100 weeks, and they’re all at the starting gate. Nole motored past Andre Agassi (101 weeks), Rafael Nadal (102 weeks) and Bjorn Borg (109 weeks) in 2014, at 27. In 2015, he blew past John McEnroe (170 weeks). At this point in the race, he still had Jimmy Connors (268), Ivan Lendl (270), Pete Sampras (286), and Roger Federer (310) well ahead of him. After a dominant stint at No. 1 from 7 July 2014 to 6 November 2016, when he went a ridiculous 167-17, he seemed to steer off course and lose his characteristic hunger.

He won no majors during an injury-plagued season in 2017 and came into the summer of 2018 with a ranking outside the Top 20. With Nadal, a resurgent Federer, Murray and others to contend with, some reckoned that, at 31, his best days were already behind him. But such doubters have always stoked Djokovic’s inner fire, and he roared back to win both Wimbledon and the US Open that year.


ImageImage
The Sultan of Serbia was back on course, and in 2019, he blew past Connors and Lendl. In 2020, he defended his throne, going 41-5 in the strangest and most mentally challenging season in tennis history, racing past his boyhood hero, Pete Sampras, along the way. He spoke to the American legend about the difficulties of staying on top at the Nitto ATP Finals in London, expressing wonderment at how Sampras managed to finish as the year-end No. 1 six years in a row.

“Staying No. 1, ending the seasons as No. 1, as Pete said, is a paramount achievement and the amount of dedication that you need to undergo in your life and the way you have to organise yourself, not just on the court, but off the court, is tremendous,” he said.

As he coped with that stress over the years, there has always been one big fish — an elusive white whale named Roger Federer — to pursue. The Serb has been stalking Federer for his entire career. Roger first rose to No. 1 at 22, Novak at 24. Novak hit 100 weeks on top at 26, Federer at 24. Federer hit 300 weeks at 31, Novak at 33.

Though he could very well win more majors than any player in history, Djokovic has been swimming in the wake of Federer and Nadal for years. Those legends have legions of passionate fans, who naturally have rooted against the upstart Serb, whose emergence dented the prospects of their heroes.

Slaying fellow fan favourites empowers Djokovic, who defiantly raises his chin and his game when needed. He was underestimated for much of his early career, which makes his achievements even sweeter. And so, when he passed Roger Federer this week for most weeks at No. 1, it’s really a culmination of a lifetime of work, sacrifice and devotion to his craft. The record clearly means the world to him.

“In our sport, winning [the] most Grand Slams and being No. 1 for as long as possible are [the] two biggest goals,” Djokovic said after passing Sampras last year.

No one has had to work harder to get to the top than Djokovic. Early in his career he didn’t get lots of free points on his serve, and he rarely blasts an opponent off the court with 90 mph forehands. He has an all-around game propelled by world-class fitness and movement, but his greatest strength has always been mental. His uncanny ability to focus and stay cool on the big points, and to go into ‘lockdown mode’ during tie-breaks, has made him the player he is.

Remarkably, Djokovic has stayed on top for so long during tennis’ golden era, battling and often overcoming two of the greatest legends in the sport, and a host of other future hall of famers, like Andy Murray, Juan Martin del Potro, Stan Wawrinka, Dominic Thiem and others. He has a winning career mark against all those players, not to mention Federer and Nadal, too.

"It really excites me to walk the path of legends and giants of this sport."
Novak Djokovic
Along the way, he’s inspired an incredible tennis boom in Serbia and around the Balkans. There are now seven juniors from the former Yugoslav republics (four of them from Serbia) ranked inside the Top 100 of the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Rankings.

Coming into the 2021 season, a number of prognosticators thought that challengers like Thiem and Daniil Medvedev may wrestle the No. 1 ranking away from Djokovic this year. The Serb responded by winning his ninth Australian Open title, dismissing Medvedev in straight sets in the final.

If Djokovic hears the chorus of naysayers writing premature tennis obits for him, look out. At 33, he’s still in tremendous shape. And his dedication to fitness, nutrition, and yoga will likely leave him ready to compete at the highest level for years to come. He’s six years younger than Federer and the prospect of him following the Swiss’s example and playing for several more years should concern any other player with designs on the No. 1 perch he considers his throne.

But will he remain hungry enough to push well past 311 weeks on top? Why not? There are still records to be broken. He’s now within two majors of Federer and Nadal in the all-time Grand Slam titles chase, and he still needs 28 more tour-level titles to eclipse Jimmy Connors’ all-time mark of 109, though Federer and Nadal aren’t done winning either. Ultimately, his assault on the sport’s record books rests on endurance, a quality he has demonstrated in spades for years.

In any case, even if he never wins another match, Djokovic’s story is one that’s been great for the sport. During his early years on tour, his fitness level wasn’t what it is today, and he had to retire from a number of matches. At one point, he opined that perhaps he was born at the wrong time and implied that he might never supplant Federer and Nadal.

But he evolved into the toughest, most unflappable competitor in the sport. The fact that he could emerge from a war-torn country with little tennis infrastructure, from a family of modest means with no deep ties in the sport, illustrates that tennis’ next great champion could come from any corner of the world. Gencic spotted the potential in him at an early age but nevertheless, Djokovic wasn’t born a champion. He fought to get to the top, bettering himself at each hurdle, and battled harder to stay there than anyone ever has before.

“It really excites me to walk the path of legends and giants of this sport,” said Djokovic. “To know that I earned my place among them by following my childhood dream is a beautiful confirmation that when you do things out of love and passion, everything is possible.”

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/celebra ... world-no-1

[DUN I LOVE]

#1: Novak najdłużej w historii numerem 1 rankingu!

Nastał historyczny dzień. Padł rekord, który prawdopodobnie przez bardzo długo zostanie niepobity. Novak Djoković już przez 311 tygodni jest liderem rankingu ATP i nic nie wskazuje na to, żeby ta sytuacja miała się zmienić w najbliższych tygodniach. Serb poprawił wynik Rogera Federera.


atptour.com

1. Novak Djoković - 311
2. Roger Federer - 310
3. Pete Sampras - 286
4. Ivan Lendl - 270
5. Jimmy Connors - 268

[Damian]

[Starigniter]

Chyba się szukuje 400 tygodni i 8x YE #1.
Wiem, że ten pierwszy rekord jest sukcesywnie poprawiany:
1. Connors ustanowił redkord przy 41 tygodniach ok. 1975, później poprawił do 268 w 1983 (+ 5x YE #1)
2. Lendl dzierżył rekord od 269 do 270 tygodni ustanowiony w 1990 (+4x YE #1)
3. Sampras 4 lipca 1999 miał 270 tygodni, później 2 sierpnia 1999 było 271 i doszedł do 286 rok (później podwójnie rekordowe x6 YE #1 z rzędu)
4. Federer 16 lipca 287 tygodni, dotarł do 302 i w 2018 poprawił do 310 (+5x YE #1)
5. 8 marca 2021, a więc po 9 latach, Novak ma 311 tygodni

Tak więc jakby nie patrzeć: najpierw 7 lat (ale w sumie 15 lat na tronie), później 9, 13 i znowu po 9 zmiana lidera. Niby szybko, ale tym razem Novak ma naprawdę okazję ustanowić coś, co przetrwa grubo więcej niż 15 lat (1975-1990) Connorsa.
Rekord YE #1 też w tym roku powinien paść.
Rafa go przecież nie zatrzyma, więc rekord ewentualnie pobije ktoś, kto zacznie swoją karierę dopiero jak oni już przestaną grać.

[Starigniter]

Gdzie są nolefani? Nie świętujecie? Nie ma już was na forum?

[Marcelo_Rios]

Ulegli procesowi depopulacji, którego intensyfikacja wzrastała wprost proporcjonalnie do rosnących osiągnięć Serba. Ich martyrologia zapisała się jednak wielkimi zgłoskami w historii forum.

[Barty]

[Damian]

Djokovic Sets New All-Time Record For Weeks At No. 1 In FedEx ATP Rankings

Spoiler:

Serbian star passes Federer for most weeks in the top spot
Novak Djokovic has today set the record for most weeks at No. 1 in the 48-year history of the FedEx ATP Rankings.

Djokovic, who captured his ninth Australian Open trophy and 18th Grand Slam title last month, also holds a record 36 ATP Masters 1000 trophies and first attained the No. 1 ranking on 4 July 2011. He has since held the top spot in the rankings across five different stints for a record 311 weeks, one week longer than Roger Federer, who broke Pete Sampras’ record of 286 weeks at No. 1 on 16 July 2012.

Read Immersive Djokovic Feature

The 33-year-old Djokovic fell as low as No. 22 on 21 May 2018 and returned to the top spot on 5 November 2018. The Serbian has since spent 88 weeks at No. 1, across two different stints, and last season finished as the year-end No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings for a record-equalling sixth time.


"It really excites me to walk the path of legends and giants of this sport," said Djokovic. "To know that I have earned my place among them by following my childhood dream is a beautiful confirmation that when you do things out of love and passion, everything is possible."

ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said: "Novak’s many achievements in tennis are nothing short of extraordinary. Among them this record may stand as his single most impressive. Reaching No. 1 is something many players dream of and very few ever accomplish, and to have held the top spot for longer than anyone is testament to the levels of sustained excellence that Novak has redefined in our sport."

MOST WEEKS AT NO. 1

Player Weeks At No. 1
1) Novak Djokovic (SRB) 311
2) Roger Federer (SUI) 310
3) Pete Sampras (USA) 286
4) Ivan Lendl (CZE) 270
5) Jimmy Connors (USA) 268
Djokovic's five stints at No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings

MOST YEAR-END NO. 1 FINISHES

Player No. Years
1=) Novak Djokovic (SRB) 6 2011-12, '14-15, '18, '20
Pete Sampras (USA) 6 1993-98
3=) Jimmy Connors (USA) 5 1974-78
Roger Federer (SUI) 5 2004-07, '09
Rafael Nadal (ESP) 5 2008, '10, '13, '17, '19
5=) John McEnroe (USA) 4 1981-84
5) Ivan Lendl (CZE) 4 1985-87, '89
View a list of the 26 players who have ranked No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings (since 1973).

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/djokovi ... p-rankings

[DUN I LOVE]

Król Nole zabrał głos.

[DUN I LOVE]

Król jest jeden. No1e. Lekcważony, pomijany i często poniżany przez sympatyków tenisa nigdy nie przestał gonić za marzeniami. 18 tytułów WS, karierowy szlem, Nole Slam (4 wygrane WS z rzędu!!!), nawięcej mastersów w historii, wreszcie najwięcej tygodni na fotelu lidera rankingu. Najdłużej panujący Król - trzeba to sobie otwarcie powiedzieć.

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