Only three players in the history of men’s tennis have crossed 1000 wins on the ATP Tour, Jimmy Connors (1254), Ivan Lendl (1071) and Roger Federer (1067). Will Novak Djokovic, with 700 wins, cross 1000?
Currently the only three active players with 700 plus wins are Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic. On the overall tally, Federer is third, Rafa is ninth and Djo is 12th. Let us have a quick look at the magnificent 12 and their number of wins to put matters in perspective.
As stated above, Connors, Lendl and Federer are the top three with 1254, 1071, and 1067 wins. The next three at fourth to sixth are Guillermo Vilas with 929, John McEnroe with 875 and Andre Agassi with 870 respectively. Seventh to ninth are Stefan Edberg with 801, Ilie Nastase with 779 and Nadal with 775 wins each.
Finally the last three in this magnificent list are Pete Sampras with 762, Boris Becker with 713 and Djokovic with 700 wins.
Since the focus of this article is to analyse whether Djo can cross 1000 wins, let us quickly examine his journey from the first win in 2004 to the 700th win (versus Tunisian wild card entry Malek Jaziri) in Feb 2016.
He started his career in the Davis Cup with a win over Janis Skroderis of Latvia in 2004. He took three years to reach 100 wins in 2007 but thereafter has consistently reaching at least 200 more wins in three years, thereby averaging 70 plus wins a year.
His 200th win was in 2009, 300th in 2010, 400th in 2012 and 500th was in 2013. His 600th win was on second November 2014 and just 479 days later he has won his 700th on 25th February 2016.
During this magic 479 days. Djo’s record has been an incredible 100 wins versus only six defeats, out of which three were to the great Federer. It is not that he played only minnows during this period. He played as many as 38 matches versus top 10 players and had only five defeats.
This shows that the consistency is simply remarkable. He wins against lesser players as well against the top players and maintains focus and commitment versus both.
Can Djo cross 1000? I would tend to say yes, because of two simple reasons: his incredible consistency and his fitness. His current domination on the ATP world tour is frightening. He has reached 19 finals from his past 20 tournaments, including 17 straight that tied him with Federer’s mark in 2005-06.
Ivan Lendl’s record of 18 consecutive title matches in 1981-82 was in danger, and it was only an eye infection which kept Lendll’s record going, with Djojovic bowing out in QF of Dubai Open due to conjunctivitis.
This itself suggests that Djo is well on the way to crossing 1000 wins. Since he is at the peak of his fitness, he can easily play for several years more. Just four years more will give him the 300 required for him to cross 1000. He is 12th now on the list. Crossing 1000 will make him the fourth or maybe fifth if Rafa too crosses 1000.
However pertinently, in this period since November 2014 Djo has a record of 100-6 (100-7 now with his walkover) while Rafa has 69-24. So it is possible that Djo may reach the land mark of 1000 earlier than Rafa or maybe around same time, even though Rafa currently has 75 more wins than Djo.
I am certainly looking forward to the journey of Djo in the next few years as he marches to the 1000. In the process the first player he will cross is his coach Boris Becker who has 713 to his 700, and I am sure Boris will be extremely pleased. He will be planning more and more majors for his supremely talented, focussed and disciplined pupil Novak Djokovic.
Two more related thoughts before I go. Will Rafa also cross 1000? And will Federer cross Connors?
Only time will tell.
Looking forward to many more wins from this supremely talented and gifted trio.
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