With him, records fall. This Monday, February 20, Novak Djokovic begins his 377th week as world number one at the ATP. He was already above all men. In March 2021, the Serb had passed Roger Federer and his 310 weeks at the top of the hierarchy. It is now the absolute record – men and women combined – that he equals, since Steffi Graf occupied the throne alone until then with 377 weeks at the top of the WTA rankings in the 1980s and 1990s.
The German is no longer alone and, from next Monday, she will be behind the champion of Belgrade, guaranteed to go to 378, and soon beyond.
Thanks to his tenth success at the Australian Open on January 29, the 22nd in Grand Slam, like Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, 35, became world number one again for the seventh time in his career. He therefore had the guarantee of equaling the absolute record of presence in the first place of the classification three weeks later.
The records of Williams and Court in the viewfinder
Despite Carlos Alcaraz’s title on Sunday in Buenos Aires, the “Djoker” still has 500 points more than the young Spaniard, a sufficient margin since he had played very little last year at the same time while Alcaraz will have to defend him a place of semi-finalist in Indian Wells, then a title in Miami. Novak Djokovic can therefore calmly consider approaching 400 weeks at the top, or even exceeding them.
An impressive score. Djokovic took the throne for the first time on July 4, 2011 after his maiden Wimbledon title. Since then, he has spent seven years and two months in the No. 1 spot over a period of eleven years and seven months. The Serb is now aiming for the record number of Grand Slam tournaments won. He came back up to Rafael Nadal (which can always increase its capital) and… Steffi Graf. But still ahead of him are Serena Williams and Margaret Court, with 23 and 24 titles respectively.
