Biography
Nole is a Serbian professional tennis player currently ranked world No. 1 by the ATP. Djokovic has held the No. 1 spot for a record 354 weeks and has finished as ATP Year-End No. 1 seven times, also a record. He shares the record for 20 Grand Slam men's singles titles, including a record nine Australian Open victories. Overall, he has claimed 86 ATP singles titles, featuring a record 37 Masters titles. Djokovic is the only male player in the Open Era to complete a double career Grand Slam and to hold a non-calendar year Grand Slam. He is also the sole player to achieve the career Golden Masters twice on the ATP Tour.
Djokovic turned professional in 2003. At 20 years old, he broke the 11-major winning streak of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal by securing his first Grand Slam title at the 2008 Australian Open. By 2010, Djokovic distinguished himself from the rest of men's tennis to join Federer and Nadal in the "Big Three," dominating men's tennis for over a decade. In 2011, he reached No. 1 for the first time, winning three out of four majors and setting a season record with five Masters titles. He maintained his status as the top player throughout the decade, leading in major and Masters titles and winning four of his five ATP Finals titles consecutively from 2012 to 2015. After finishing No. 3 for four straight years until 2010, Djokovic ranked No. 1 for six years and No. 2 for three years in the following decade.
In 2015, Djokovic had a standout season, reaching fifteen consecutive finals, including all four major finals and eight Masters finals. He won three majors, a record six Masters events, and the ATP Finals. The next year, he secured the 2016 French Open, completing the first and only non-calendar year Grand Slam in the Open Era and his first career Grand Slam. He became the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to simultaneously hold all four major titles and the only player to do so on three different surfaces.
Representing Serbia, Djokovic led the national team to its first Davis Cup victory in 2010 and to the inaugural ATP Cup title in 2020. He also earned a bronze medal for Serbia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Djokovic has won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award four times (2012, 2015, 2016, 2019), the BBC Sports Personality World Sport Star of the Year award in 2011, and the L'Équipe Champion of Champions award in 2021. He is a recipient of the Order of St. Sava, the Order of Karađorđe's Star, and the Order of the Republika Srpska. Beyond competition, Djokovic served as president of the ATP player council and is an active philanthropist. In August 2020, he and Vasek Pospisil founded the Professional Tennis Players Association, the first player-only association in tennis, aiming to give players more influence on the tour and advocating for better prize money distribution for lower-ranked players.
