Former world No.1 doubles player Mark Knowles has said Novak Djokovic sent out a ‘dangerous’ message to his rivals after discussing the possibility of going unbeaten throughout 2020.
Djokovic is currently on a 18-match winning streak this season after winning three consecutive tournaments. The streak started at the ATP Cup in Australia when he guided Serbia to the trophy and defeated rival Rafael Nadal in the final. Following on from that, he became the first male player to win an eighth Australian Open title before defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
It was in Dubai, where the 17-time grand slam champion mentioned the possibility of going undefeated on the tour throughout an entire season. His personal record currently stands at 43 wins in a row. Djokovic went undefeated from the 2010 Davis Cup final to the 2011 French Open, where his run was ended by Roger Federer.
“One of the targets is to go unbeaten the whole season” Djokovic said in Dubai before adding “No, I’m kidding. I’m not kidding, actually. Let’s take things step by step.”
It is unclear as to when Djokovic and his rivals will continue their campaigns in the sport. The ATP Tour currently in the middle of a six-week suspension due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic. Even when that period comes to an end, it is still uncertain if the tour will start then.
Whenever play does resume, Knowles believes the 32-year-old will continue from when he left off. Knowles won 55 ATP doubles titles during his career, including three at grand slam level. Since retiring, he has gone into coaching and has previously worked with Milos Raonic.
“It is spectacular, we are continually amazed. This year he looks as focused and fresh as we have ever seen him.” Knowles told The Tennis Channel.
“Unfortunately for this delay he’s on a 21 match win streak, he looks great.
“I expect him to continue to pick up where he left off whenever we do resume.
“He’s just looked really motivated and he’s had a couple of quotes where he’s kind of said it would be nice to go undefeated for the year and that’s dangerous to me.”
Time to talk tennis.@knowlzee10s, @Steve_Weissman, and @paul_annacone talk @rogerfederer's perfectly-timed surgery, @DjokerNole's unstoppable start to the season, and how the Big 3 are involved with the player council→https://t.co/tPoe44TDv0#TCLive pic.twitter.com/nYUyawUQ17
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) March 13, 2020
The men’s tour is currently postponed until the week commencing April 27th when tournaments are set to be played in Portugal and Germany. Although there are ongoing doubts if either of those events will go ahead.
Should the rankings remain unfrozen throughout the suspension, Djokovic’s No.1 position is safe until at least Wimbledon. He has been at the top of the rankings for 281 weeks, which is the third longest period in history. Only Pete Sampras (281) and Roger Federer (310) has held the position longer.
Three things to know about Djokovic’s extraordinary start to 2020
- 10 out of his 18 wins on the tour have been against top 20 opposition. The highest ranked of those being Nadal, who was No.1 at the time of their meeting at the ATP Cup.
- Only five players have taken at least one set off Djokovic so far this year. They are Gael Monfils, Dominic Thiem, Jan-Lennard Struff, Daniil Medvedev and Denis Shapovalov.
- He has already made $4,410,541 in prize money. This is almost $3 million more than anybody else on the ATP Tour so far this season.
