Novak Djokovic is first player ever to win 90 matches at every Grand Slam

It may not have come the way he wanted, but Novak Djokovic won an all-Serbian match-up against Laslo Djere in the second round of the US Open on Wednesday night, when Djere retired from the match down 6-4, 6-4, 2-0 due to injury.

But a win is a win, and with that, Djokovic joins an exclusive list.

It was his 90th career win at the US Open, and he’s just the fourth tennis player ever to reach that milestone, male or female, after Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert and Serena Williams, who had 98, 101 and 108 career wins in Flushing Meadows, respectively.

But there’s an even more exclusive list he joined with the win.

A list of just one.

He’s now the only tennis player ever, man or woman, to have 90 career wins at all four Grand Slam tournaments.

He was already the only player ever to win 80 at each of them.

DJOKOVIC’S WIN-LOSS RECORD BY GRAND SLAM EVENT:
94-9 at Australian Open (10 titles)
96-16 at Roland Garros (3 titles)
97-12 at Wimbledon (7 titles)
90-13 at US Open (4 titles)

Djokovic needed to come back from two sets down to defeat Djere in the third round of last year’s US Open, and their rematch in the second round of this year’s US Open looked like it might go the distance too, as after Djokovic snuck out the first set, Djere not only went up a break in the second set, but even had double break point for a double break with Djokovic serving at 2-4, 15-40.

But the 29-year-old started to visibly struggle with what looked like an abdominal injury in the second set, and Djokovic pounced, not only digging out a hold in that game, but eventually winning the next six games before his opponent couldn’t continue.

“You know, in the end not the kind of finish that we players or crowd wants to see, but I think it’s probably due to that physical battle that we had in the opening two sets,” Djokovic said.

“All in all, of course, I have to be happy with the win and happy that in important moments I managed to play one ball more than him over the net, and I guess find the right shots or anticipate well as I did in the set point in the second set. I was lucky that he missed that forehand. It was quite easy forehand. But, you know, that’s tennis when you are fighting and playing long rallies, and the pressure mounts when you have that important point that you have to play the shots that normally nine out of ten you wouldn’t miss, and then you miss.”

Up next for the No. 2-seeded Djokovic will be No. 28-seeded Alexei Popyrin, who cruised past Spain’s Pedro Martinez, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0.

Djokovic leads their head-to-head, 3-0, though in their two meetings this year—both at Grand Slams, at the Australian Open and Wimbledon—Popyrin pushed him to four sets.