23. Novak Djokovic now has all time Grand Slam record in Tennis history. The Djoker has the most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era after defeating Casper Ruud in the Roland Garros 2023 final to take his 23rd Grand Slam and surpass Rafael Nadal who won the French Open himself in 2022 and took his record 21st Slam at the Australian Open 2022.


From Emerson to Sampras to Federer to Nadal to Djokovic - The Grand Slam Record

In 1999 Pete Sampras won his 6th Wimbledon title and equalled Roy Emerson's all time record of 12 Tennis Grand Slam titles. Sampras and Björn Borg held the Open Era record with 11 but as Emerson's tally had still been higher it was big news when Sampras equalled his numbers. One year later Sampras won his record extending 7th Wimbledon title and surpassed Emerson. At the US Open in 2002 he added a 14th and last Grand Slam title of his career. It was generally believed that this tennis record would be tough to beat in the future, yet only 7 years later Roger Federer equalled it when he completed his Career Grand Slam by winning the French Open. A month later he took his 6th title in 7 years at Wimbledon to surpass Pete Sampras, winning a 15th Grand Slam title.

At the Australian Open 2010 and Wimbledon 2012 Federer managed to bring his Grand Slam tally up to 17 but then it seemed like he was not quite able to win more of them anymore for a few years. In the meantime Rafael Nadal who had kept Federer from winning more titles - especially on the clay of Roland Garros - had completed a career Grand Slam himself and by 2014 also equalled Pete Sampras' 14 titles. Then the king of clay also had a drought for two years while Novak Djokovic was dominating the tour, winning 3 Slams in 2015, defeating Federer in the final at Wimbledon and the US Open. With the Australian Open and Roland Garros 2016 Djokovic completed a non calendar year Grand Slam - winning all 4 major tennis titles in a row. While Rod Laver remained the only one to have done it in a calendar year, Djokovic did it on 3 different surfaces. (in the 1960s and 70s the Australian Open and US Open were played on grass courts like Wimbledon)
The Australian Open 2017 was the revival of both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal who played 5 close sets in their last combined Grand Slam final. Both would take 2 titles each that season. After they both defended their titles at the Australian Open 2018 and Roland Garros respectively, Nadal then lost to Novak Djokovic in a close Semifinal at Wimbledon. It was the beginning of the Serbs comeback who went on to win the title there on grass and then at the two hard court Slams in the US and Australia. At Wimbledon 2019 Djokovic defended match points on Roger Federer's serve and took his 5th title in what would turn out to be Roger Federer's last Grand Slam final appearance. Rafael Nadal took the other two Slams of the season and brought his tally to 19 - just one less than Federer.
In 2020 the king of clay defeated Djokovic in Paris - winning the French Open once again and equalling Roger Federer's record. With another 3 consecutive Slams Djokovic then also equalled his two rivals. When several circumstances led to Novak Djokovic not being allowed to enter Australia, the Australian Open 2022 took an unexpected turn. Rafael Nadal managed to win his record 21st Grand Slam despite being 0:2 sets and break points down and despite having not played for several months prior to the tournament. With an incredible 14th Roland Garros title he was then 2 ahead of his rivals.
But the Djoker once again fought back and took his 7th title at Wimbledon, his 10th at the Australian Open and now his 3rd on clay at the Roland Garros 2023.

Which player is your favourite and how many more titles do you think Djokovic (and maybe even Nadal) will win?