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Scroll through the Novak Djokovic 2023 season records, and your jaw may just hit the floor. The world number one has enjoyed one of the most remarkable seasons of his career so far – perhaps even his best ever! Of course, my intention today is to assess whether Djokovic’s 2023 season really has been the best of his career.
This assessment will take a look at his win/loss records, Grand Slam performances, Masters 1000 performances, and head-to-head records with his closest rivals. By the time we get done, the answer to whether Novak Djokovic’s 2023 season is his career-best or not should be clear.
Anyway – ready to get started and analyze this intriguing question? Me too! So let’s look at the Novak Djokovic 2023 season in greater detail now.
Novak Djokovic 2023 season – overview of what he has achieved
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We can probably all agree that the Serbian’s 2023 season has been incredible. He has earned over $11.5 million in prize money, captured seven titles, and won three of the four Grand Slam events. Needless to say, these are the kinds of achievements that others can only dream of for their entire career – never mind producing such figures in a single season.
Additionally, he has regained the world number one spot after losing it to Carlos Alcaraz earlier in the year. And perhaps most impressive of all, Novak Djokovic has a 55-6 win/loss record for the season. Again, those are simply sensational numbers, and he’s topped things off by winning the 2023 ATP Finals, of course.
Despite such figures, is the Novak Djokovic 2023 season really the best we have ever witnessed from the Serb? Well, let’s take things even further now and compare what he’s achieved in 2023 to what he’s done in the past.
Comparing Novak Djokovic’s 2023 season with previous seasons
Of course, for 2023 to be considered ‘the best ever’, the logical thing to do is to perform a comparison with previous seasons. That’s precisely what I’ve done for the key statistics below. However, as discussed in the final conclusion, we must factor in that Djokovic produced these figures at 36 years of age!
So arguably, producing such feats at 36 is even tougher to do, not that the Serbian seems to struggle with pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Anyway, let me address the key figures before moving to the final answer.
Grand Slam wins
As I’m sure you are aware, Novak Djokovic has managed to win three of the four Grand Slams in the 2023 season. He started the season in remarkable fashion, dominating pretty much everyone at the 2023 Aussie Open to equal Nadal’s record of 22 Grand Slam wins. But beyond that, he surpassed Nadal at the French Open, and went on to win the US Open too.
This put him on 24 Grand Slams in total, despite losing the Wimbledon final in a very tight five-setter. So really, it could have been the ‘Calendar Slam’ this year if he edged Alcaraz on the grass, but it wasn’t meant to be.
However, as remarkable as this achievement is, Djokovic has won three Grand Slams in a single season on three other occasions!
Masters 1000 wins
This is where things get a little tricky when comparing the Novak Djokovic 2023 season with previous years. And I say that because he simply doesn’t play as many tournaments as he used to, which is fairly logical since he is 36 years of age. Nevertheless, we can still assess his success at the Masters 1000 level by the number of tournament wins vs the number of tournaments played.
So what does this particular figure look like for the Serb in 2023? Well, he played four Masters 1000 events in 2023, and he won two of them – giving him a 50% success record at this level. Ironically, he had a 75% success record at the Grand Slam level. Subsequently, this isn’t the most Masters 1000 tournaments he has won in a season, of course.
But it is the joint-fewest number of matches he has lost in a season at the Masters 1000 level, with just two to speak of.
Win/loss records
At the time of writing, Djokovic’s 2023 season win/loss record sits at 55-6, which is staggering by most player’s standards. Amazingly, there is just one other season in his entire career where he has lost just five matches, which was in 2020. Yet at the same time, the amount of tennis he played in 2020 was significantly less, which makes the 2023 win/loss all the more impressive.
With that said, Novak Djokovic’s 2023 season isn’t his most successful in terms of individual match wins. For that, you’d need to look at his legendary 2011 season, where he finished with a win/loss of 70-6.
Head to head with closest rivals
Given that Djokovic has stuck with the biggest tournaments in the sport in recent years, it’s important to remember something. When he steps out onto the court, more often than not, he is competing against the best players in the world. This alone makes his win/loss records in 2023 stand out.
This opens up another area for the discussion on whether Djokovic’s 2023 season is his best ever – the head-to-head records against his main rivals. I’ve listed these below for clarity:
- Carlos Alcaraz – 3-1
- Andrey Rublev – 3-0
- Daniil Medvedev – 2-1
- Holger Rune – 2-1
- Hubert Hurkacz – 3-0
- Taylor Fritz – 2-0
- Stefanos Tsitsipas – 1-0
- Jannik Sinner – 2-1
Conclusion: Novak Djokovic 2023 season – his most impressive ever
At the end of the day, I need to provide an answer to whether Djokovic’s 2023 season stands alone in terms of his overall career. And based on the figures discussed above, while factoring in his age, his performances across all surfaces, and the historical barriers he has broken in 2023, I believe this is his best season ever.
Don’t forget – in 2023 he has surpassed Nadal in terms of Grand Slam victories, he has secured a record-breaking ‘year-end number one’ spot for an 8th time, and he has broken the 400-week barrier in terms of total time spent as world number one. For me, this takes him beyond any of the previous seasons concerning his success and accomplishments!
Best of all, if you look at Novak Djokovic’s next match, his season isn’t even finished.
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