DJOKOVIC ENDS OUTSTANDING YEAR WITH EVEN MORE HISTORIC ACHIEVEMENTS
The incomparable Novak Djokovic has written another chapter of tennis history! HEAD’s leading tennis ambassador has become the first player – man or woman – to top the world rankings for 400 weeks, following his victory at the ATP Finals in Turin.
The 36-year-old Serb has notched up a historic collection of firsts in 2023:
- The first man to reach 23 Grand Slam singles titles
- The first man to reach 24 Grand slam singles titles
- The first man to win three majors in the same year four times
- The first man to top the world rankings for 400 weeks (7 years 36 weeks)
- The first man to top the year-end rankings eight times
- The first man to win seven year-ending titles at the ATP Finals
The new ATP rankings published on Monday (20 November) see Djokovic at the top for a 400th week in 10 stints dating from his first Wimbledon title in July 2011. The next closest man is Roger Federer with 311 weeks, while the woman with the highest number of weeks at the top of the WTA rankings is Steffi Graf with 377.
“Novak is simply remarkable,” said Ottmar Barbian, executive vice-president of HEAD’s racquet sports division. “His dedication to his craft, his professionalism and his humility make him someone who is rightly admired across the world. It is an honour and a privilege for us at HEAD to have worked with him over the years on his principal tool, his racquet.”
Djokovic began the year ranked fifth after being denied the chance to play a full schedule in 2022, but got 2023 off to a flying start by winning his 10th Australian Open, which took him back to the top of the rankings. While he slipped off the top spot a couple of times during the clay and grass seasons, he has been number one since late August.
And he came closer to winning a pure Grand Slam (all four major titles in the same year) than ever before; the one that got away in 2023 was a five-set Wimbledon final, a match in which he led early in the fifth set.
Djokovic has played most of his career endorsing racquets from the Speed range. He played with HEAD as a junior and has won all but one of his major titles with a HEAD in his hand.
