Novak Djokovic battles to 400th Masters 1000 win of career with opening victory at Indian Wells

Novak Djokovic made a winning return to Indian Wells in his first appearance at the Masters 1000 event since 2019 on Saturday, defeating Aleksandar Vukic in his opening match, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.

And his victory over the No. 69-ranked Australian was a big one: it was the milestone 400th Masters 1000 win of Djokovic’s career.

The world No. 1 is just the second player to hit that number since the Masters 1000 level of tournaments officially began in 1990.

MOST MASTERS 1000 MATCH WINS (since 1990):

• 406: Rafael Nadal
• 400: Novak Djokovic
• 381: Roger Federer
• 228: Andy Murray
• 209: Andre Agassi

In terms of winning percentage, though, Djokovic comes out on top.

BEST MASTERS 1000 WINNING PERCENTAGE (since 1990):

• 82.3%: Novak Djokovic [400-86]
• 82.2%: Rafael Nadal [406-88]
• 77.9%: Roger Federer [381-108]
• 75.0%: Carlos Alcaraz [48-16]
• 74.1%: Andre Agassi [209-73]

Djokovic also holds the record for most career Masters 1000 titles with 40 (Nadal is next with 36) and most finals with 58 (Nadal is next with 53). Additionally, the Serb is the only player ever to have won all nine Masters 1000 tournaments at least once in his career, otherwise known as a Career Golden Masters—and he even has a Double Career Golden Masters, meaning he’s won them all at least twice each.

Djokovic, who was also playing his first match since the Australian Open in January, seemed headed for a comfortable victory on Saturday as he cruised through the first set in just 34 minutes. But Vukic picked up his game in a big way from there, sneaking out a break en route to a 3-0 lead in the second set, and—after Djokovic got the break back and tied it up at 3-all—eventually breaking again in the last game of the second set to send the match into a third.

But Djokovic bounced back in the decider, breaking to go up 3-2 and eventually getting another break in the last game of the match.

“He played amazing, Djokovic said of Vukic afterwards. “He really deserved the great applause and credit at the end of the match, and you saw the reaction of the crowd when he was walking off, I mean, they really appreciated his tennis. His quality was really high, particularly in the second set and in the beginning of the third. He played some really, really ripping forehands and crushed the serve.

“It was difficult to go through him. He was going for it, and it was going in, and I just managed to crack the code in the third set. Once I broke his serve I feel like I stepped it up a bit, then finished in great style.”

A five-time champion in tennis paradise in 2008, 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016, Djokovic is now through to the third round again, where he’ll have a first-time meeting against Italian lucky loser Luca Nardi, a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 winner over China’s Zhang Zhizhen earlier in the day.