Djokovic secures 400th Grand Slam match win to extend record

Novak Djokovic [AP Photo]

An even 400 in Grand Slams and 102 in Australia. Novak Djokovic just keeps setting tennis records.

The 24-time major winner became the first player to reach 400 wins in Grand Slam singles when he beat Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Saturday night in the third round of the Australian Open.

It improved his win-loss record to 102-10 at the Australian Open, too, equaling Roger Federer’s career haul for the most-ever match wins at the season’s first major.

Djokovic has won the Australian Open 10 times, more than anyone else. At 38, he’s in Australia aiming for a 25th career major that would make him the most decorated tennis player of all time.

Djokovic apologized for a moment of frustration in the seventh game of the second set, when he swiped the ball away angrily and it flew just past a ball girl crouching at the net post.

“I apologized for that. That was not necessary and in the heat of the moment,” he said. “I was lucky there and I’m sorry for causing any distress to the ball kid or anybody.”

Djokovic was disqualified from the U.S. Open in 2020 for accidentally hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball by angrily smacking a ball behind him after dropping a game in his fourth-round match.

Aside from that brief loss of temper, Djokovic was mostly in control against van de Zandschulp and was untroubled except for a few moments in the third set — when he tripped and tumbled to the court in the third game, and later when he faced two set points in the 12th.

A medical timeout at the changeover after the third, when the trainer taped the ball of his right foot, and a forehand winner down the line diffused the first two of those issues.

As Djokovic faced his second set point, chair umpire John Blom had to urge the crowd — repeatedly — not to make noise between the first and second serves.

An animated Djokovic saved the next one, too, pretending to head the ball like a soccer player as the Dutchman’s shot sailed over the baseline.

The crowd chanted “Nole, Nole, Nole” in support before he produced a winning serve to force a tiebreaker, which he won.

Djokovic was happy to be playing a night match on a day when the tournament’s extreme heat policy had to be invoked and two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner struggled before advancing in the afternoon conditions.

“I managed to have a ‘good’ fall if you can say so, I could protect myself,” Djokovic said of the tumble. “Things could have been pretty ugly.”

He said his body is feeling good for this stage of the tournament, but he’s not getting too far ahead of himself after semifinals at all four majors last year.

“I must say, it’s been a great start of the tournament,” he said. “Last year I learned a lesson. I got too excited too early in some of the Grand Slams … getting injured three out of four.”

Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz split the four majors between them and, while Djokovic concedes “they’re playing on a different level right now,” he added: “I’m still trying to give these young guys a push for their money.”

With his first-round win over Pedro Martinez, Djokovic equaled two all-time tennis records by starting his 21st Australian Open and his 81st Grand Slam event, and he added another milestone with his 100th win at Melbourne Park.

That made him the first man to win 100 or more matches on three surfaces at the Grand Slams, with his 102 on grass at Wimbledon and 101 on clay at Roland Garros. JOHN PYE, MELBOURNE