Novak Djokovic defeats Learner Tien for record 80th career win in Arthur Ashe Stadium

Novak Djokovic made a winning start to his 2025 US Open campaign on Sunday night, taking out giant-killing American Learner Tien in straight sets in the first round of the last major of the year, 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-2.

And with that victory, the four-time US Open champion unlocked a new milestone: it was his 80th career win in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

He's the first man ever to win 80 matches in the largest tennis stadium in the world, since it made its debut at the US Open in 1997.

MOST CAREER WINS IN ARTHUR ASHE STADIUM (men):

• 80: Novak Djokovic (2007-2016, 2018-2021, 2023-2025)
• 77: Roger Federer (2003-2015, 2017-2019)
• 64: Rafael Nadal (2005-2011, 2013, 2015-2019, 2022)
• 41: Andre Agassi (1997-2006)
• 40: Andy Roddick (2001-2012)

Djokovic is the second player, male or female, to win 80 matches in Arthur Ashe Stadium, after Serena Williams, who won 103.

When the draw was made, this was one of the toughest first-round match-ups. Djokovic hadn't played a match since Wimbledon, and Tien had an incredible 4-1 record against Top 10 players this year.

But the favorite came out firing on Sunday night, rolling through the first set—there was some danger in the second set, as Djokovic faced a set point in his 4-5 service game, but he saved it, held and eventually clinched the set in a tie-break to secure a two-set lead.

Tien broke serve in the first game of the third set but it was all Djokovic from there, as the 24-time Grand Slam champion won five games in a row for a 5-1 lead, and then—after getting broken while serving for the match—broke the American one last time to close it out.

"Well, I started great. Just over 20 minutes, first set, I felt really good," Djokovic said. "Then some long games to start the second set, and then I start to feel really—I don't know why. I really was surprised how bad I was feeling in the second physically. Yeah, we had long exchanges, but also, I kind of dropped my level and made a lot of unforced errors and kind of got him back into the match. I'm glad that I kind of reset myself after second set. And the third set was okay to finish up the match.

"There are positives, but also things that hopefully won't happen in terms of how I feel on the court physically the way I felt in the second set. Hopefully that doesn't happen, because then it makes my life on the court much more challenging. Good thing, two days off now. But yeah, it's slightly a concern. I don't have any injury or anything. I just struggled a lot to stay in long exchanges and recover after points."

Eighty seemed to be the magic number for Djokovic on Sunday, as he not only scored his 80th career win on Ashe, but this is also his 80th career appearance at a Grand Slam event. He's just the third man in tennis history to play that many majors, after Roger Federer and Feliciano Lopez, who contested 81 major tournaments each.

Awaiting the Serb in the second round will be another American, Zachary Svajda, who won an all-qualifier battle against Hungary's Zsombor Piros earlier in the day, 6-4, 6-2, 7-5.

Djokovic will be playing against Svajda for the first time.