Novak Djokovic celebrates after winning his eighth Australian Open title recently. (Getty Images)
With his victory over Dominic Thiem in the 2020 Australian Open final, Serbian Novak Djokovic became the first man in the Open Era to win Grand Slams in three different decades.
It all started for the 32-year old Djokovic back at the same venue in Australia, eight years ago, when he won his first Grand Slam title in 2008.
This was followed by 15 titles in the next decade and now with his eighth Australian Open crown and the latest one at the start of this new decade he has gained a rare honour.
It is an immense achievement considering the fact that the other two – Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have not attained such a feat.
Moreover, Djokovic has reduced the gap between him and the other two in terms of the number of Grand Slams won.
With 17 Majors, Djokovic is just 2 behind Nadal (19) and 3 titles away from Federer (20).
Djokovic has now won five of the last seven Grand Slams, proving his dominance among the Big Three, which includes Federer, Nadal and himself.
He bagged the Wimbledon and the US Open in 2018, the Australian Open, Wimbledon in 2019 and now the Australian Open this year.
After winning the title, Djokovic has returned to No.1 spot in the world rankings, pushing Nadal to second while Federer still stays in third place. This week will be his 276th career week at No.1.
Djokovic is third on the list for most career weeks at No. 1 on the ATP rankings, and he seems to be in a hurry to close the gap between the two men.
He’s just 10 weeks away from Pete Sampras’ 286, and 34 weeks away from Federer’s 310. Djokovic has claimed another interesting record as he has now won 43 of his last 45 Grand Slam matches.
His only losses coming against Thiem in the semi-finals of the 2019 French Open, and to Stan Wawrinka in the fourth round of the 2019 US Open.
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