Happy birthday, Nole! 36 stats for Novak Djokovic’s 36th birthday

Twenty-two-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic turns 36 years young today, and to mark the occasion, here’s a stat for all 36 of his birthdays so far!

1 is for No. 1, where Djokovic has spent a total of 387 career weeks, the most in ATP rankings history (Roger Federer is next with 310).

2 is for his two Roland Garros titles in 2016 and 2021, the only man other than Rafael Nadal to win multiple French Opens in the last 20 years.

3 is for his three US Open titles in 2011, 2015 and 2018, one of only three men in the last 25 years to win multiple titles in Flushing Meadows (along with Federer and Nadal).

4 is for his four Sunshine Doubles in 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016, which means winning Indian Wells and Miami in the same year—he’s the only player ever, male or female, to achieve the feat four times.

5 is for when he rose from No. 5 to No. 1 after winning the Australian Open this year, the biggest jump to No. 1 in ATP rankings history (previously, the biggest jump was No. 4 to No. 1, achieved by Carlos Moya, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Carlos Alcaraz).

6 is for his six ATP finals titles in 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2022, tied with Federer for the most in history—he’s also the only player ever to win the event in three different decades, and his prize money of $4,740,300 for winning it undefeated in 2022 was the biggest single-tournament pay-out in tennis history.

7 is for his seven Wimbledon titles in 2011, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022, tied for second-most for a man in tennis history with William Renshaw and Pete Sampras (Federer leads with eight).

8 is for his eight career grass-court titles, seven at Wimbledon and one at Eastbourne in 2017—he’s currently tied for most grass-court titles among active men’s players (Andy Murray also has eight).

9 is for being the only player ever to win all nine Masters 1000 events at least twice, otherwise known as a Double Career Golden Masters (no other player even has a Single Career Golden Masters!)

10 is for his 10 Australian Open titles in 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023, which is by far the most for a man in tournament history (no other man has won more than six), and one of only two men ever to win 10-plus titles at any major (also Nadal at Roland Garros).

11 is for his 11 Masters 1000 titles on clay, which includes two in Monte Carlo, three in Madrid and six in Rome—he’s one of only two players ever to win 10-plus Masters 1000 titles on clay (also Nadal).

12 is for being ranked No. 1 at some point in 12 different years, in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023—it’s the most of any player in ATP rankings history (Nadal is next with 10).

13 is for how many Grand Slam titles he's won on hard courts, the men’s all-time record (and tied with Serena Williams for the men’s and women’s all-time record).

14 is for his 14 career wins over No. 1s, which probably would have been a lot more if he hadn’t spent so much of the last 12 years at No. 1 himself (he got the first eight of them before getting to the top spot for the first time in 2011, and six since).

15 is for his 15 year-end Top 5 finishes, every year from 2007 to 2022 minus his injury-marred 2017—if he gets a 16th this year, he’ll tie Federer and Nadal for the most in ATP rankings history.

16 is for the age at which he got his first tour-level win, a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Latvia’s Janis Skroderis in Davis Cup play in Belgrade in April of 2004 (Djokovic has been a loyal Davis Cup player ever since, playing 32 ties and compiling a 42-13 career record in the competition—38-7 in singles, 4-6 in doubles).

17 is for the number of years he’s reached the quarterfinals or better in Rome, and consecutive years too, from his debut as a 19-year-old in 2007 to his latest appearance as a 35-year-old last week.

18 is for the number of years in a row he’s won at least two tour-level titles, from capturing his first two in 2006 (Amersfoort and Metz) to two so far in 2023 (Adelaide and Australian Open).

19 is for a pair of ridiculous winning streaks in Australia—not only has he won his last 19 matches in a row against Top 10 players in the country (since barely falling to No. 8 Stan Wawrinka in the 2014 Australian Open quarterfinals, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7) but he’s also won his last 19 matches in a row against Top 5 players there (since falling to No. 1 Federer at the 2007 Australian Open).

20 is for 20-0, which is his flawless combined record in semifinals (10-0) and finals (10-0) at the Australian Open.

21 is for the $21,646,145 he earned in prize money in 2015, the highest single-season prize money in either ATP or WTA history (next-most is Murray’s 2016 season earnings of $16,349,701).

22 is for his 22 career Grand Slam titles, tied with Nadal for most for a man in tennis history—can he pass the Spaniard at Roland Garros in the next few weeks?

23 is for the age he won his first (and so far only) ATP doubles title, conquering the grass-court event at Queen’s Club in 2010 alongside Israel’s Jonathan Erlich.

24 is for his career-high ranking as a junior, which he set in 2004—it wasn't indicative at all of how he would turn out in the pros, as it only took him until 2005 to break into the Top 100 of the ATP rankings, and he was already up to No. 3 by 2007.

25 is for his 25 career wins against Murray—born just a week apart, the two have played each other in seven Grand Slam finals (Djokovic leads 5-2) and a total of 36 times (Djokovic leads 25-11).

26 is for the number of years Steffi Graf had the most career weeks at No. 1 in either ATP or WTA rankings history before Djokovic broke that record, too (Graf tallied up her 377th career week at the top spot on the WTA rankings in 1997 and Djokovic surpassed that this year).

27 is for his 27 career wins against Federer—the two have played each other in five Grand Slam finals (Djokovic leads 4-1) and a total of 50 times (Djokovic leads 27-23).

28 is for another pair of ridiculous winning streaks—he’s won his last 28 matches in a row at the Australian Open (the longest for a man in the Open Era) and his last 28 matches in a row at Wimbledon, too (the fourth-longest for a man in the Open Era after Bjorn Borg’s 41, Federer’s 40 and Sampras’ 31).

29 is for 29 years and 14 days, Djokovic’s age when he completed his Career Slam at Roland Garros in 2016 (the second-oldest man to achieve the feat after Agassi, who did it at 29 years and 38 days).

30 is for his 30 career wins against Nadal—born less than a year apart, the two have played each other an incredible 59 times, the most tour-level meetings between two men in the Open Era (Djokovic leads 30-29).

31 is for the record number of Top 10 wins Djokovic piled up in 2015, putting together an incredible 31-5 record against the elite that year (while being ranked No. 1 the entire year himself).

32 is for 32%, which is how many return games he’s won in his career (and it’s a not-much-lower 26% against Top 10 players).

33 is for the 33 Grand Slam finals he’s reached, the most for a man in tennis history (Federer is next with 31).

34 is for his 34 career five-set wins at Grand Slams, the most for any player in tennis history. His most recent one was his 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon last year.

35 is for 35 years and 5 months, the age at which he won the ATP Finals last year—smashing the record for oldest player ever to win the event, which was previously Federer at 30 years and 3 months.

And finally, not only is 36 for all the records he could potentially break over the next 12 months, but coincidentally he’s spent all but 36 of the last 823 weeks of ATP rankings in the Top 10, and it took an injury-marred 2017 season to push him out—he spent his first 555 weeks in the Top 10 from March 19th, 2007 to November 6th, 2017, at which point he hadn’t even played since July, then he fell out for just 36 weeks, then returned to the elite on July 16th, 2018, and this is his 232nd consecutive week in there since then.