Novak Djokovic refused to vaccinate against COVID-19 on January 2021. As a result, he couldn't defend his Melbourne Park crown. He has won Wimbledon title for the seventh time, holds 21 Grand Slam titles. After that? Will the number of Grand Slam titles in Djokovic's cupboard increase further? The Serbian desires to be allowed to play Australian Open next year despite being kicked out of the country over his vaccination status in January. After winning Wimbledon, he has made it clear that he has no plans to take the corona vaccine.
Djokovic desires to play Australian Open next year. Image- The Hindu
The defending champion, Novak Djokovic has won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon titles in 2021 but couldn't defend his Melbourne Park crown because of his refusal. He lost his French Open title after losing to Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals this year but retained his Wimbledon title on Sunday. The US Open is starting from August 29. That is the last Grand Slam of the year. The Australian Open is next year. But he has to get vaccinated to play in these two competition. Currently, he has no permission to enter the United States while his deportation from Australia carried with it a three-year re-entry ban.
"As things stand now, I cannot travel to Australia and the United States, but I am hoping to get positive news," Djokovic told RTS. He added, "I believe things will change for Australian Open. For the U.S. Open there is not much time, but hope dies last. I would like to play at the U.S. Open and Australia Open, but even if I do not it's not the end of the world."
21-time Grand Slam winner missed the Australian Open earlier this year because of his vaccine issue. That's why he doesn't want to miss the tournament this year. Australia scrapped a rule that required international travelers to declare their COVID vaccination status last week. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that his re-entry ban could be reconsider in the right circumstances.
However, The 35-year old has won last four Wimbledon titles in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. He is now one step behind from Rafael Nadal to overtake the record of 22 Grand Slam titles.
WTA World No. 2 Iga Swiatek has not won any titles since last year's French Open, despite having an overall strong season. Even worse, a Polish news outlet recently reported that Swiatek was considering skipping Wimbledon 2025 to prepare for the US Open in August.
Swiatek strongly refused those reports during her Media Day press conference at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The five-time Grand Slam champion said, "Shouldn't believe this stuff." She added, “During past few days I saw million comments that were not true.”
'I'm not going to skip Wimbledon'
Swiatek further explained, "I don't get it. There are so many theories right now, I would say, especially in Polish media, about me that are not true. I think, I don't' know, you guys like to make some articles that will attract people. I get it. It's part of the job.
"But yeah, for sure, I'm not going to skip Wimbledon. I really want to learn how to play on grass better. Every year is another opportunity. I will play Wimbledon, for sure, unless I get injured."
'love-and-hate relationship with my perfectionism'
A former junior Wimbledon champion, the 23-year-old has posted her least dominant results on grass in the years since winning her first major title at 2020 Roland Garros. Relatively subpar results on hard courts and clay have been more surprising, leading Swiatek to consider her own perfectionism as a source of this recent late-stage inconsistency.
“I have [a] love-and-hate relationship with my perfectionism. The thing is that I only remember the good stuff from last years because I was winning titles and everything. My head kind of remembers the good stuff.” said Swiatek.
Swiatek is currently the WTA World No. 2 with a record of 26-8 on the season with zero titles. The Polish superstar's campaign at the Italian Open starts on Thursday, May 8. Fans can mark their calendars for the French Open, which will start on May 25, and Wimbledon 2025, which will begin June 30.
Jannik Sinner won the Australian Open 2025 title after defeating Alexander Zverev. With this, the Italian becomes the first man to retain the title since Novak Djokovic’s “three-peat” from 2019 to 2021. Let's take a look at the Australian Open winners list (Men).
In this article, we will brief you on the Australian Open winners list (Men).
Jannik Sinner claims Australian Open 2025 title
Jannik Sinner won the latest edition of the Australian Open after defeating Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
With this, the Italian becomes the first man to retain the title since Novak Djokovic’s “three-peat” from 2019 to 2021.
Aged 23 years 163 days, Sinner is also the youngest man to win multiple Australian Open titles since Jim Courier in 1992-93.
Djokovic won the most titles
Over the last decade, the tournament has been dominated by Novak Djokovic who has won the tournament ten times in this period (2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023).
The only other players to win the tournament in this time are Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka.
Djokovic's record in the tournament is impressive, with his ten wins coming in a consecutive period of 11 years.
He has been able to defeat some of the greatest players in the world, such as Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, in the final of the tournament.
Djokovic also has two hat-tricks of Australian Open titles, once between 2011-2013 and then doing an encore from 2019-2021.
The Serbian’s first Australian Open crown came in 2008, when he came from a set down to beat Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6.
Djokovic has beaten Andy Murray in as many as four Australian Open finals while he has also beaten Rafael Nadal in two finals.
On the other hand, Roger has won the Australian Open twice in the last decade, in 2017 and 2018.
He has been a finalist in the tournament five times in this period, showing his consistency at the tournament.
While Stan Wawrinka has won the Australian Open once, in 2014. He defeated Rafael Nadal in the final, who was the defending champion at the time.
This win was a major upset and Wawrinka proved that he is capable of winning the biggest tournaments in the world.
It is interesting to note that, in the last decade, the men's singles of the Australian Open has been dominated by Swiss players, with four out of the ten titles won by either Roger Federer or Stan Wawrinka.
While Novak Djokovic, another Swiss player, has dominated the tournament with 10 titles. This shows the strength of Swiss players in the tennis world, particularly on hard courts.
Most matches won in Grand Slams by any player | Top 10 List
One of the barometers of who gets to be called the greatest of all time has to be Grand Slam match wins. Roger Federer blazed his way to 369 Grand Slam match wins. So let's have a tour of the most matches won in Grand slams from top 10 list.
The Grand Slam tournaments, also known as majors are the most important Tennis tournament. It is also considered as the world's four most important annual professional tennis tournaments.
Grand Slam is referred to the achievement of winning all four major championships in the same calendar year. The four Grand Slam championships are the Australian Open, French Open, Us Open and Wimbledon.
That's why it is also called the "Calendar-year Grand Slam" or "Calendar Slam". Players get most ranking points, prize money, public and media attention in this prestigious Tennis tournament.
John McEnroe, the American former Tennis player is in the 10th place of the top ten list of most matches won in Grand Slams.
Between 1977 and 1992 John McEnroe won 167 Grand Slam men’s singles matches.
The majority of his wins came at Wimbledon and the US Open with McEnroe sporting an 18-5 record at the Australian Open and a 25-10 record at the French Open.
He has won seven Grand Slam singles title including four at the US Open and three at Wimbledon.
Besides, he has won nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles- five at Wimbledon and four at the US Open and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title at the French Open.
Stefan Edberg is the master of the serve-and-volley style in tennis. The former Swedish tennis player once served as a coach for the defending champion Roger Federer.
Edberg has won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles between 1985 and 1996.
Edberg claimed his personal high tally (56 match wins) at the Australian Open, playing the event at two different venues.
Although both his titles in Melbourne came on the grass courts of the Kooyong Stadium.
Ivan Lendl was the player from Czechoslovakia but later he obtained American citizenship. He is recognized as one of the greatest tennis player of all time.
Lendl was all out on 222 as he rounded off his 17-year professional career.
He won 205 matches at Grand Slam tournaments representing Czechoslovakia and 17 matches after his defection to the United States.
The former professional tennis player has achieved eight major singles titles and played 19 major finals.
He was runner-up a joint record 11 times, tied with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
The American world No.1 tennis player, Andre Agassi has to retire early from tennis as he was suffering from Sciatica. Still he has made many achievements in his tennis career.
He is the eight-time champion of major singles titles. He is an Olympic gold medalist as well as runner-up of seven other majors.
Agassi finished his career second on this list but would later be overtaken by the members of the big three.
Jimmy Connors was the second man in the Open Era to win three major titles in a calendar year.
Though he didn't permit to play the fourth major. The American former tennis player has achieved eight major singles titles- five US Open, two Wimbledons and one Australian Open.
Before the big three, Jimmy Connors held an impressive Grand Slam match win tally that some thought was unsurpassable.
The Swiss tennis player has won 20 major singles titles and a record six-year Wimbledon titles. he break Pete Sampras' record of 14 major singles titles at Wimbledon in 2009.
His final Grand Slam match was his defeat to Hubert Hurkacz at the 2021 edition of Wimbledon.
Tennis Stats: Players to win back-to-back Grand Slam titles without losing
To play at a consistent level at Grand Slams is a very difficult task. Rod Laver and Novak Djokovic are the two contrasting examples. Let's take a look at the tennis Stats of players who won back-to-back Grand Slam titles without losing.
To play at a consistent level at Grand Slams is a very difficult task. Rod Laver and Novak Djokovic are the two contrasting examples. In the Open Era, Rod Laver won 4 majors consecutively in 1969 and Novak Djokovic won 4 majors from mid-2015 to mid-2016.
Let's take a look at the tennis Stats of players who won back-to-back Grand Slam titles without losing.
Tennis Stats | Players to win back-to-back Grand Slams
Rod Laver | 4
Rod Laver knows what it takes to complete tennis’ ultimate achievement, having won the Grand Slam as an amateur in 1962 and again as a pro in 1969. He defeated Tony Roche in the US Open final (7-9, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2) to win a fourth consecutive major title. Laver won the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open in the same calendar year (1969), which still stands as a unique achievement in the Open era.
As a professional Laver was banned from playing the Grand Slam tournaments as well as other tournaments. In 1968, Laver was again able to compete. During his career, he won eleven Grand Slam tournaments, eight Pro Slam tournaments, and five Davis Cup titles. He was also the first player to win four consecutive Grand Slams in the same calendar year in 1962.
Novak Djokovic | 4
Novak Djokovic also achieved four consecutive Grand Slam titles. He won the last two majors of 2015 (Wimbledon and US Open) and the first two Slams of 2016 (Australian Open and French Open). By winning the title in Paris in 2016, Djokovic completed a 'Career Grand Slam' (winning all four major tournaments), the fourth man to do so in the open era after Andre Agassi (1999), Roger Federer (2009) and Rafael Nadal (2010). He also completed a golden slam in 2023 when he won all four grand slams and the Olympic games.
Djokovic is the first man to win 24 Slam titles. He has tied Margaret Court for the most ever of any player in any era. Djokovic also won 10 Australian Open, which makes him the record holder for the most titles at that tournament.
The Paris Olympics 2024 has already begun and thousands of athletes are going head to head for the medals. Let's look at the list of all the medal winners day by day.
TheParis Olympics 2024started on 26th July with a mega opening ceremony. A total of 10,500 athletes have participated in the Olympics 2024. The eyes of these athletes are on winning medals for their respective countries. The first gold medal of the Paris Games went to China, but we'll get more winners, joining the list every day from July 27- Aug 11. Let's see the list of all the medal winners day by day.