When you hear the word Tennis, the first name that comes to most of our minds is Serena Williams. With good reason of course. She is arguably one of the best female tennis players of all time.
However, if you’re a tennis buff and have been keeping up with the world of sports, you’ve probably come across the name Novak Djokovic.
It’s been making headlines for the past couple of hours and not for nothing. The man is a tennis god! I’ll tell you why, but first, a brief ‘Tennis for Dummies’ breakdown.
Here are a few things you should know;
Grand slam- refers to winning all four major championships/tournaments–the championships of Australia, France(Roland Garros), Britain (Wimbledon), and the United States in the same calendar season.
A Career Grand Slam-refers to winning all four Grand Slam tournaments at least once during the course of one’s career.
Triple Career Grand Slam – winning each Major tournament at least thrice.
The ATP’s Masters Series (currently known as ATP Tour Masters 1000 series)- is an annual series of nine top-level tournaments. It features the elite men’s players on the ATP Tour since 1990.
Surfaces-There are four main types of surfaces for tennis courts: Grass, clay, artificial grass, and hard courts.
Got it? Great. Now let’s talk about Novak and what he has to do with all these terms.
As of yesterday, September 10th 2023, Djokovic holds an all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles. This was after he won the US Open final surpassing Serena Williams, who holds 23 grand slams.
He is now the only other tennis player to hold the title alongside Margaret Court. She held the longest record with 24 grand slams up until yesterday.
Novak made tennis history by being the reigning champion of all four majors at once across three different surfaces.(See why the dummies lesson was important?)
In addition, he is the only man to achieve a triple Career Grand Slam, and the only player to complete a career Golden Masters.(Winning all the masters games in a row) Twice.
It’s official, Djokovic is the G.O.A.T
