Generational Rivalry: Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner to clash in third straight major final at US Open

From grass-court winning streaks to tying his childhood idol with his seventh Wimbledon and closing in on the all-time Grand Slam record, Novak Djokovic just kept piling on the career numbers with his latest triumph at the All England Club.

Here are 21 things the Serbian legend achieved at SW19 this year:

He now has the second-most Grand Slam titles for a man in tennis history. The Big 3 lead the pack with 22 (Rafael Nadal), 21 (Djokovic) and 20 (Roger Federer). Next-most on the all-time list is 14 (Pete Sampras).

He’s now tied for the second-most Wimbledon titles for a man in tennis history. Federer still holds the record with eight—Djokovic is now tied with William Renshaw and his childhood idol, Sampras, at seven.

He’s now won 9 of his last 11 Grand Slam finals, and 13 of his last 16. After his 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory over Nick Kyrgios in the championship match at Wimbledon this year, Djokovic is now 21-11 in his career in major finals, but that was once 8-8—starting with 2015 Wimbledon, he’s gone 13-3.

He extended his Centre Court winning streak to 39 matches in a row. His last loss on the most famous court in the world came to Andy Murray in the 2013 final.

He’s now 7-1 in his career in Wimbledon finals. He won his first Wimbledon final in 2011, lost his second one in 2013 (to Murray), and has since won six in a row.

He’s the first man in tennis history to win seven or more titles at two different Grand Slams. He already had nine Australian Opens, and now he has seven Wimbledons. Only two women have ever achieved this feat—Helen Wills Moody, who won eight Wimbledons and seven US Opens, and Serena Williams, who has seven Australian Opens and seven Wimbledons on her resume.

He’s now won more matches at Wimbledon—86—than at any other major. His win over Kyrgios in the final improved his career record at Wimbledon to 86-10, breaking a tie with Roland Garros, where he’s 85-16. Meanwhie, he’s 82-8 in his career at the Australian Open and 81-13 at the US Open.

Djokovic hasn't lost on grass in more than four years, at Wimbledon in more than five years and on Centre Court in more than nine years.

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With nine, he’s now won more majors after turning 30 than any other man in the Open Era. He had been tied with Nadal at eight going into this tournament.

He’s now reached the most Grand Slam finals for a man in tennis history. The Big 3 lead the pack again with 32 (Djokovic), 31 (Federer) and 30 (Nadal). Next-most on the all-time list is 19 (Ivan Lendl).

He’s just the fourth man in the Open Era to win Wimbledon four times in a row. The other three to do it are Bjorn Borg (five in a row from 1976 to 1980), Federer (five in a row from 2003 to 2007) and Sampras (four in a row from 1997 to 2000).

He extended his grass-court winning streak to 28 matches in a row. His last loss on grass came to Marin Cilic in the 2018 Queen’s Club final—a match in which Djokovic actually held match point. It’s the third-longest grass-court winning streak for a man in the Open Era after Federer (65) and Borg (41).

He extended his Wimbledon winning streak to 28 matches in a row. His last loss: a retirement loss to Tomas Berdych in the 2017 quarterfinals due to an elbow injury. It’s the fourth-longest Wimbledon winning streak for a man in the Open Era after Borg (41), Federer (40) and Sampras (31).

At 35 years and 49 days, he’s the second-oldest man to win Wimbledon in the Open Era. Federer was 35 years and 342 days when he won it in 2017.

He’s now 44-39 at majors after losing the first set. The 21-time Grand Slam champion is a scary 289-8 at majors after winning the first set.

If Kyrgios can bring what he did in his Wimbledon final loss to Novak Djokovic each week, he'll win more often that not.

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He (finally) got his first career win over Kyrgios. Kyrgios had been tied with Marat Safin and Jiri Vesely for best undefeated record against Djokovic, with all three players holding 2-0 head-to-head marks against the Serb—but now that record belongs to just the No. 69-ranked Vesely and the retired Safin.

He’s now 4-0 against first-time Grand Slam finalists in Grand Slam finals. They all came out swinging against him, winning at least the first set, but Djokovic ended up with the trophy every time, beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the 2008 Australian Open final, Stefanos Tsitsipas in the 2021 Roland Garros final, Matteo Berrettini in the 2021 Wimbledon final and now Kyrgios at Wimbledon this year.

He won the same major four times in a row for the first time in his career. He’s won the Australian Open three times in a row twice: 2011 to 2013 and 2019 to 2021.

He captured the 88th tour-level title of his career. Djokovic is still fifth in the Open Era but catching up on third and fourth—he trails only Jimmy Connors (109), Federer (103), Lendl (94) and Nadal (92).

He’s now won at least two tour-level titles a year for the last 17 years. It’s a stretch that dates back to 2006—in addition to Wimbledon, he also won Rome this year, which was his record-extending 38th Masters 1000 crown.

The Big 3—Nadal, Djokovic and Federer—have now won 20 of the last 22 majors. Since the start of 2017, the only exceptions have been the 2020 US Open (Dominic Thiem) and 2021 US Open (Daniil Medvedev).

And Nadal and Djokovic have won 15 of the last 17 majors. That’s a stretch that began at 2018 Roland Garros.