Novak Djokovic has taken another giant stride in cementing his spot as the greatest tennis player of all time.
The 37-year-old progressed to the round of 16 at the Shanghai Masters thanks to a comfortable 6-1, 6-2 victory over Flavio Cobolli.
Djokovic will face the unseeded Roman Safiullin in his next match as he continues his bid for a remarkable sixth title in Shanghai.
But before Djokovic has even served a ball at the Russian, he has already eclipsed historic rival Rafael Nadal in a major statistic.
According to OptaAce, The Serbian’s win over Cobolli took his winning percentage in ATP Masters 1000 tournaments to 82.02 per cent.
That figure is the highest of any at player at those events, including Rafael Nadal, who has a winning percentage of 82.00 per cent.
When it comes to their respective records at ATP 1000 Masters events, they are strikingly similar.
Djokovic has won 406 games and lost just 89 times, while Nadal holds a 410-90 record.
However, Nadal has 36 ATP 1000 Masters titles to his name while Djokovic has 40.
As for Roger Federer, another legend of tennis who often features in the sport’s greatest of all-time discussion, his ATP 1000 Masters record stood at 381-108 for a winning percentage of 77.91 per cent.
The Swiss maestro won only 28 ATP 1000 Masters titles.
Given Djokovic remains the only member of the ‘Big Three’ still highly active on the tour, he has every chance of widening the gap to Nadal and Federer.
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Federer retired from tennis in 2022 while Nadal, who still competes, has been sidelined by various injuries in recent years.
In fact, Nadal has played just 23 matches across the last two years, winning 13 and losing 10.
As for Djokovic, he has shown few signs of slowing down despite being 37.
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However, 2024 marked the first time since 2017 Djokovic failed to win a grand slam title as Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz won two each, signalling a new era of tennis superstars is nearly upon us.
