Novak Djokovic has the chance to match Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slam singles titles as he takes his dominant form of recent years to Wimbledon.
With the Serbian also chasing a calendar year Grand Slam, the PA news agency takes a look at his record.
Grand slam record
Djokovic has won six of the last eight major tournaments he has played, including the last three in a row – Wimbledon last summer and this year’s Australian and French Opens.
That 21-match winning run extends his record to 52 wins and two defeats since the start of 2021, and 58-3 since he was defaulted at the 2020 US Open for hitting a ball girl with a ball.
He missed last season’s Australian and US Opens due to his unvaccinated status but has otherwise been in a class of his own since tennis returned following the most stringent Covid lockdowns.
Wimbledon was not staged in 2020 and Djokovic’s US Open nightmare followed before he finished as runner-up to perennial champion Rafael Nadal at a rescheduled Roland Garros.
He won 2021’s first three slams and reached the final in New York, only for Daniil Medvedev to deny him a calendar year grand slam. Nadal again defeated him in Paris last year, at the quarter-final stage, before his current all-conquering run.
In his career as a whole, Djokovic has won 88 per cent of his grand slam matches, 348 of 395. Wimbledon therefore provides his first opportunity to tick off two landmark numbers, 350 wins if he reaches the third round and 400 matches by getting to the last eight.
His 23 grand slam titles are the most ever for a male player, having broken a tie with Nadal by winning the French Open, and alongside Serena Williams for all players in the Open era. Court’s 24 were split almost equally between 13 in the amateur era and 11 in the Open era.
Wimbledon dominance
Djokovic goes to Wimbledon as a four-time defending champion – a run dating back to 2018 given the 2020 cancellation.
His 2018 triumph saw him account for Tennys Sandgren, Horacio Zeballos and Karen Khachanov in straight sets and Kyle Edmund and Kei Nishikori in four before an epic semi-final against Nadal – winning 10-8 in the fifth set – and a three-set final against South African giant Kevin Anderson.
He was similarly dominant the following year, dropping sets only against Hubert Hurkacz and Roberto Bautista Agut on the way to the final where he needed two tie-breaks to take Federer to a decider and another to win it 13-12.
He dropped only two sets in 2021 but was more sternly tested last year, with only two straight-sets wins while he trailed Jannik Sinner by two sets before winning a thrilling quarter-final 5-7 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-2 and going on to beat Cameron Norrie and Nick Kyrgios to retain his title.
Calendar slam on agenda again
Two years on from going within one match of the calendar slam feat achieved by only two men in history, Djokovic is halfway through another assault on that target.
American Don Budge won all four of 1938’s majors while Australian great Rod Laver did so in both 1962 and 1969.
Djokovic is already the third and final man to hold all four titles simultaneously, winning Wimbledon and the US Open in 2015 and the Australian and French in 2016, as well as uniquely having at least three wins in each.
In this season’s two grand slam triumphs he has dropped only three sets – to French journeyman Enzo Couacaud at the Australian Open, on a tie-break while conceding only three games across the three sets he won, and to both Khachanov and Carlos Alcaraz in France.
In 2021, outside of Wimbledon, he was made to work for his titles, starting in Australia where he faced a five-set battle with American Taylor Fritz and dropped sets also to Frances Tiafoe, Milos Raonic and Alexander Zverev.
He trailed both the unheralded Lorenzo Musetti and final opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas 2-0 in France, where Matteo Berrettini and Nadal also took him to four sets, and had only one straight-sets win in New York before losing the final 6-4 6-4 6-4 to Medvedev.
Top seed Sinner withdraws from Madrid Open ahead of quarter-finals
Jannik Sinner has withdrawn from the Madrid Open due to a hip injury ahead of his scheduled quarter-final clash with Felix Auger Aliassime.
The world number two was due to face Auger Aliassime for a place in the semi-finals after fighting back to overcome Karen Khachanov in three sets on Tuesday.
However, the Italian has been advised to withdraw to avoid aggravating an issue with his right hip, which he says has troubled him throughout the tournament.
Sinner, who is 28-2 for the season and won his first grand slam title at the Australian Open earlier this year, wrote on X: "Very sad to have to withdraw from my next match here in Madrid.
"My hip has been bothering me this week and has slowly been getting more painful. Taking the advice from the doctors, we decided it's best to not play further and make it worse."
Sinner's withdrawal means Auger Aliassime will advance to his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final since 2022, with Daniil Medvedev or Jiri Lehecka – who eliminated Rafael Nadal on Tuesday – up next for the Canadian.
On the other side of the draw, two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz suffered a surprise exit at the hands of Andrey Rublev on Wednesday, with the Russian set to face either Taylor Fritz or Francisco Cerundolo in the last four.
Alcaraz sees Madrid Open reign ended by Rublev in last eight
Carlos Alcaraz saw his hopes of a third straight Madrid Open crown dashed on Wednesday, as Andrey Rublev fought back to seal a statement quarter-final win over the defending champion.
Alcaraz had been pushed close in the last 16 by Jan-Lennard Struff on Tuesday, requiring two tie-breaks to see off the German in three sets, and those exertions seemed to take their toll as he produced a below-par display on Wednesday.
Seven unforced errors from Rublev helped the home favourite take the opener, but he appeared to tire from there as his seventh-seeded opponent fired in 27 winners in a 4-6 6-3 6-2 victory.
Rublev broke Alcaraz's serve in the first and fifth games of the decider, also serving impressively to deny the Spaniard a single break point after a nervous first hold.
Alcaraz's exit ended home interest in the tournament, just one day after five-time champion Rafael Nadal was dumped out in the last 16 by Jiri Lehecka.
Speaking to Sky Sports Tennis, Rublev said: "I can't believe that I was able to stay calm throughout the match. I didn't say a word and even I'm impressed by that!
"I want to believe that I have been working on this because if not, then I'm stupid. I just thought to myself to keep trying, keep fighting, keep believing in yourself."
Data Debrief: Major scalp for Rublev
To say Rublev entered Wednesday's match as the underdog would be an understatement. Alcaraz was looking to become the first player to win three straight Madrid Open singles titles, and was 24-0 in Spanish clay-court events since the start of 2022.
Rublev, though, was not overawed by the occasion and punished a sluggish performance from the world number three. Wednesday's win was his first over a top-three opponent since 2022, and he will now face either Taylor Fritz or Francisco Cerundolo in the last four.
Rybakina saves two match points to beat Putintseva in Madrid Open quarter-finals
Elena Rybakina saved two match points as she outlasted Yulia Putintseva to win a dramatic encounter 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 in the Madrid Open quarter-finals on Wednesday.
The world number four was on the brink of defeat at 5-2 down in the third set, with her fellow Kazakhstani Putintseva eyeing a third win in as many head-to-head meetings between the pair.
However, Rybakina came up with one of the shots of the tournament on Putintseva's first match point, capitalising on a drop shot clipping the net cord to produce a nonchalant winner.
The 2022 Wimbledon champion didn't look back from that moment on, producing back-to-back breaks before holding her nerve through a tense final service game, converting her fourth match point to wrap up a gruelling two-hour, 48-minute contest.
Rybakina has now won 16 successive matches on clay, and she will face either Aryna Sabalenka or Mirra Andreeva in the semi-finals on Thursday.
Data Debrief: Rybakina rampant
Rybakina is the form player on the WTA circuit, with Wednesday's win her 30th of 2024, more than any other player.
She is just the second player to win 30 or more matches in tournaments starting within the first four months of a calendar year, after Iga Swiatek managed 32 victories during the same span in 2022. Swiatek, of course, went on to win the French Open and US Open titles that season.
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