Birthday boy Novak Djokovic records milestone 1,100th win of career in Geneva

The world No. 1 is now 1,100-218, which—at 83.5%—is the best winning percentage for a man in the Open Era.

It was a double celebration kind of day for Novak Djokovic in Geneva.

Not only was it his 37th birthday on Wednesday, but he rang it in with the 1,100th tour-level win of his career, defeating Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, to reach that milestone.

He’s just the third man in the Open Era to hit that number.

MOST CAREER WINS IN OPEN ERA (men, tour-level):
1,274: Jimmy Connors
1,251: Roger Federer
1,100: Novak Djokovic
1,075: Rafael Nadal
1,068: Ivan Lendl
951: Guillermo Vilas
908: Ilie Nastase
883: John McEnroe
870: Andre Agassi
801: Stefan Edberg

And though he ranks third for most career wins for a man in the Open Era, he ranks first for career winning percentage:

BEST CAREER WINNING PERCENTAGE IN OPEN ERA (men, tour-level):
83.5%: Novak Djokovic [1,100-218]
82.8%: Rafael Nadal [1,075-224]
82.4%: Bjorn Borg [654-140]
82.0%: Roger Federer [1,251-275]
81.8%: Jimmy Connors [1,274-283]
81.7%: John McEnroe [883-198]
81.5%: Ivan Lendl [1,068-242]
79.8%: Rod Laver [576-146]
78.3%: Carlos Alcaraz [173-48]
77.4%: Pete Sampras [762-222]

The scoreline from Wednesday’s match may look straightforward, but Hanfmann, who has four career Top 10 wins to his name, including three on clay, definitely put up some resistance.

While Djokovic was serving for the first set at 5-3, Hanfmann had five break points—four before a long rain delay, then one more after—and even after Djokovic finally closed out the 49-minute opening set, the German jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set.

Djokovic was even in danger of going down a double break in the second set, serving at 0-3, 30-40—but he hit a big first serve that drew an errant return from Hanfmann to save that, caught fire once again and rattled off the last six games in a row to run away with it.

The crowd then serenaded the world No. 1 on his special day.

“The key today was the birthday—I think my birthday wouldn’t be the same if I didn’t win the match!” Djokovic joked afterwards.

“But again, it’s nice to be here for the first time in this tournament. My family is here coming to support me—I grew up with my aunt and my uncle and my two cousins most of my life, and we don’t get a chance to see each other that much lately, so I’m getting some quality time on the court and off the court here this week.

“I’m grateful for all the people who came out to support me today, and for singing the birthday song, which really touched me!”

Up next for Djokovic in the quarterfinals of the clay-court event will be winner of the last match of the day between Tallon Griekspoor and Denis Shapovalov.