ATP: Novak Djokovic overtakes Jimmy Connors
For 269 weeks, Novak Djokovic has been at the top of the ranking of tennis professionals in his four periods so far as world rankings first. The Serbian has now overtaken Jimmy Connors on Monday and is now number one in the list of those leaders with the longest period of time.
by Robert M. Frank
last edit: Sep 16, 2019, 10:47 am
The past Davis Cup week without ATP tournaments brought the current world number one Novak Djokovic a new record without doing anything on his own. The 32-year-old Serb has been at the top of the ATP world rankings for 269 weeks this Monday. That is a week longer than the 109-time ATP champion Jimmy Connors from the USA. Djokovic has already left today's 67-year-old tennis star from the 70s and 80s in this ranking and is now fourth in this ranking.
Djokovic, who has held the top position for the fourth time since November 5, 2018 after his first three times as world leader (July 2011 to July 2012, November 2012 to October 2013, July 2014 to November 2016), will soon be able to take third place. The 75-time ATP tournament winner has to defend his place in the sun for two weeks. Then Ivan Lendl's record of 270 weeks as the world's number one was broken. To break the records of Roger Federer (310 weeks) and Pete Sampras (286), Djokovic has to defend his lead a little longer. To overtake Sampras, Joker would have to remain number one by January 13, 2020. And to take over the throne of the longest-standing tennis professionals, Djokovic has the target date of June 30, 2020.
46 weeks in a row at number one - Nadal is lurking
Regardless of how long the 16-time Grand Slam champion will continue to defend his lead, the "Djoker" already has an impressive record in his current period with 46 consecutive weeks as the world number one. 46 wins, two Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, a Masters win in Madrid and only nine losses are impressive. During his second 122-week period as world number one between July 2014 and November 2016, Djokovic set his personal record with a match record of 167 wins to 17 losses (almost 91 percent win rate) including 21 ATP titles with 26 final appearances.
On the other hand, there are only a few statistics in which Djokovic is at least not considered a Croesus for the time being. The "Djoker" 2019 will definitely not be able to match its strongest period to date with eleven titles in 2015. Even so quickly, Federer's record of 237 consecutive weeks as number one. And the ATP Race to London, which Rafael Nadal leads with 1,960 points two months ahead of the ATP Finals, should no longer be the Serbian decision. It also remains to be seen how long the seven-time Australian Open winner will be able to defend his 645-point lead in the ATP world rankings over pursuer Nadal. Djokovic is currently struggling with shoulder problems .