Djokovic Sets His Sights After Margaret Court’s Grand Slam Record

Novak Djokovic defended his crown as Australian Open champion for the third time in a row, and 9th Australian title on Sunday after a comfortable win over Serbia’s Medvedev 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.

With this latest Grand Slam win, Djokovic now has 18 grand slam titles and is just two slams away from tying the record of 20 Grand Slam wins which is jointly held by his close rivals Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

The 33 year old Djokovic will go down in history as one of the greatest tennis players of all time even if he does not win another Grand Slam. However, he is determined to not only get to 20 grand slam wins along with Federer and Nadal but to surpass them and go after Aussie legend Margaret Court’s record.

Margaret Court holds the record of most grand slam wins which stands at 24 wins. Serena Williams is not far behind at 23 grand slam wins but she has struggled in recent years to win a grand slam and get to 24.

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Djokovic made it clear after this Australian Open win that he has no plans to retire anytime soon and wants to continue to dominate the Grand Slams along with his rivals Nadal and Federer. Given his form and fitness, it should not be too difficult for Djokovic to get to 20 Grand Slam wins.

Federer who is 39 years old has dropped to number 5 in the rankings and is very close to the finish line. Nadal is 34 years old and has suffered some serious injuries in the last few years which has helped Djokovic’s quest to win more Grand Slams. Roger Federer did not play at the 2021 Australian Open and Nadal could only make it to the Quarter-Finals.

Can Djokovic Get To 24 Grand Slam Wins?

Djokovic will turn 34 on 22 May and needs to have a lofty goal to stay motivated and keep grinding on the circuit. However, it will be quite an achievement if he can get to 24 Grand Slam wins. Let’s do some basic math and see if he can achieve this feat. To do this we need to make an assumption.

Let’s assume that Djokovic ends up winning 2 Grand Slams each year. He needs 6 to get to Margaret Court’s record. Assuming he wins one more in 2021, he would get to 19 Grand Slams. It would take him another 3 years for him to get to 24 Grand Slams and he would be 37 years old.

It is certainly not an impossible feat but Djokovic certainly has a better chance than Nadal or Federer.