All in all, it has been another fabulous year for World No.1 Novak Djokovic. One Grand Slam title, two Masters 1000 titles and he has consolidated his position at the number one spot in the ATP rankings. Djokovic is eyeing another record that he could match at the end of the 2020 season.
Djokovic now will most likely match Pete Sampras’ record of having the most number of year-end World No.1. Sampras has held the year-end number one ranking six times in his career. The ‘big 3’ of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer are tied with five. So Djokovic could jump his arch-rivals and go equal with Sampras.
Novak Djokovic in the 2020 season till now
The Serbian jumped Nadal in the rankings early on in the season. After a bad Australian Open, Nadal lost a considerable amount of points and Djokovic won the Australian Open which helped him regain the number one ranking. After the season restart, Djokovic won the Cincinnati Masters which earned him points. Later he added the Italian Open and then by reaching the finals at French Open 2020, it helped Djokovic forge a huge gap from second-place Rafael Nadal. Djokovic is currently on 11,740 points to Nadal’s 9850.
Last year it was Nadal who held the year-end number one ranking which tied him level with Federer and Djokovic. Surprisingly Federer held the year-end number one ranking back in 2009 and since has reached the World No.1 ranking but has failed to stay on it till the end of the season.
Barring 2016, the big 3 have held the year-end number one ranking since 2004. In 2016 after a magical year from Andy Murray, the Brit held the number one ranking for the first time and ended the season ranked number one. He had won 9 titles including one Grand Slam title and he retained his Olympic gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
With the year-end number one ranking almost a certain for Djokovic, the Serbian has a longer goal of surpassing Federer’s record of most weeks as World No.1. Djokovic is into his 291st week as World No.1 and he is just 19 short of Federer’s 310.
