From winning streaks to perfect finals records to the biggest jump to No. 1 ever, Nole just keeps piling on the numbers.
Novak Djokovic made another flawless start to a season in Australia this year, not just winning the lead-up event in Adelaide, but going on to win his 10th Australian Open title—and 22nd Grand Slam title—with a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final.
Here are 22 things Djokovic achieved Down Under this year:
He tied the all-time men’s record for most Grand Slam titles. Rafael Nadal also has 22.
He extended his all-time men’s record for most Australian Open titles. Roy Emerson and Roger Federer are tied for the next-most with six each.
He’s now one of only three players in tennis history to have won a single Grand Slam event 10 times or more. Margaret Court won 11 Australian Opens and Nadal has 14 French Opens.
He’s now 10-0 in his career in Australian Open finals. He’s actually 10-0 in his career in Australian Open semifinals, too—so he’s a terrifying 20-0 at the event once he gets past the quarterfinals.
He’s one of only two players in tennis history with a 10-0 record or better in finals at a specific major. Nadal is 14-0 in French Open finals. Court lost her eighth Australian Open final (she finished 11-1).
He broke the record for longest men’s winning streak at the Australian Open in the Open Era. He’s now won 28 matches in a row at the event, surpassing Andre Agassi’s 26 in a row from 2000 to 2004.
He’s won 10 of his last 12 Grand Slam finals, and 14 of his last 17. Midway through the 2015 season, he was 8-8 in his career in Grand Slam finals—since then he’s a scary 14-3.
He passed Nadal for fourth-most tour-level titles for a man in the Open Era. The top five is now Jimmy Connors (109), Federer (103), Ivan Lendl (94), Djokovic (93) and Nadal (92).
He’s now won 47 of his last 50 tour-level matches. In a stretch that began with his run to the title in Rome last May, his only three losses have come to Nadal (quarterfinals of Roland Garros), Felix Auger-Aliassime (Laver Cup, which is officially counted as tour-level) and Holger Rune (final of Paris).
He’s now won six of the last seven tournaments he’s played. Starting with his run to the title at Wimbledon, the only tournament he’s played but hasn’t won was the Masters 1000 event in Paris, where he fell to Rune in the final, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5—and he was up 3-1 in the third set of that one.
He’s not only won his last 17 matches in a row, but the only three sets he’s lost in that run have been close tie-breaks. They came in his 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2) win over Medvedev in the round robin of the ATP Finals, his 6-7 (8), 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over Korda in the Adelaide final and his 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-0 win over Enzo Couacaud in the second round of the Australian Open.
He’s now won at least two tour-level titles every year since 2006. That’s 18 years in a row now.
He tied Serena Williams’ all-time men’s and women’s record for most career Grand Slam titles on hard courts. They both have 13—Serena won seven Australian Opens and six US Opens, while Djokovic has won 10 Australian Opens and three US Opens.
And finally, he also tied Serena’s Open Era record for most Grand Slam titles won after turning 30. He already had the men’s record with nine, but with his 10th now, he ties the men’s and women’s Open Era record.
