The longer he competes, and remains so successful and consistent, the more incredible Novak Djokovic’s numbers become.
The world No.3 progressed to the second week at Roland Garros for the 14th consecutive year after overcoming Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6(4) 7-6(5) 6-2 on Friday, a dramatic match in which the first two sets alone spanned three hours.
It is a stage of the tournament Djokovic has reached every year, bar one, dating back to 2006. He now owns 88 match wins on Parisian clay.
He will play for a 14th consecutive quarterfinal when he takes on unseeded Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas, who has played the maximum possible 15 sets to reach this point.
Djokovic hasn’t lost any.
“It's normal that during the tournament, regardless of the history that I have or experience or whatever, that I have my doubts,” said Djokovic, who revealed he was managing injuries, yet none which prevented him from competing.
“I'm happy with where I am at the moment with my game. Can it be better? Certainly. I still didn't drop a set. I did play quite a few tiebreaks. But it's important to keep going.
“I have been in this situation really a lot of times in my career, so entering the second week, you have to expect that the matches are only going to get tougher.
“If they don't get tougher, then it's great, but I have to be ready for it.”
While his Roland Garros achievements alone are extraordinary, Djokovic is focused on even bigger goals.
His latest win keeps him on track to achieve two stratospheric milestones: a men’s record 23rd major singles title, and a calendar-year Grand Slam.
Despite recently turning 36, he exhibits few signs of decline.
He is now 10-0 at the majors this season, having dropped only one set (to Enzo Couacaud, in the second round of Australian Open 2023).
He currently enjoys a 17-match winning streak at the Grand Slams, beginning with his successful Wimbledon campaign last year.
His last loss at a Grand Slam came in the 2022 Roland Garros quarterfinals to Rafael Nadal, who went on to win that tournament for a then-record 22nd major title.
Djokovic has since equalled that mark, and seeks to surpass the Spaniard this fortnight in Paris.
Few would bet against him doing so given his recent dominance at the majors. Since the beginning of 2021, Djokovic has compiled a 48-2 record in Grand Slam play – a winning rate of 96 per cent.
His only other loss in that time came against Daniil Medvedev in the 2021 US Open final, when he was one match away from sweeping all four major titles in a single season.
Still, Djokovic has another shot at that milestone, too.
No player in the Open era has even been in the running for the calendar-year Grand Slam as often as Djokovic, because no player has won as many Australian Opens.
The 10-time champion at Melbourne Park has not won nearly as prolifically at Roland Garros, yet his consistency has still helped him appear in six finals, and win two.
THE CLOSEST DJOKOVIC HAS COME TO THE CALENDAR SLAM
| 2021 | W Australian Open | W Roland Garros | W Wimbledon | F US Open |
| 2016 | W Australian Open | W Roland Garros | 3R Wimbledon |
He is attempting to become the first man in history to win every major title at least three times.
“I still have a lot of drive to be on the tour, particularly for Slams,” Djokovic said.
“I try to focus the attention of the preparation and all the motivation and prepare myself as best as I possibly can for Grand Slams, where I want to peak and where I want to try to hopefully get my hands on another Grand Slam title.
“I did it this year… So I know that I am still capable and I still possess the level and the quality of tennis that is necessary to challenge all the best players in the world for Grand Slam titles.
“I try to have that clarity of what I'm doing, where I'm headed, what are the tournaments where I want to play the best and peak and really give it all.
“Roland Garros is one of the four of those tournaments.”
This possibility looked unlikely when Djokovic slumped to a quarterfinal loss in Rome; this year was the first since 2018 that he arrived in Paris without a clay-court lead-up title.
It led many observers to doubt whether Djokovic, who dropped to world No.3 after Rome, would be as dangerous a factor at Roland Garros.
But the man himself did not seem too concerned.
This confidence has shone through in the biggest moments this week, with Djokovic flawless in the tiebreaks he has contested.
Djokovic's combined unforced errors in the four tiebreaks he has played this year at Roland Garros (that's 40 points total): 0
— Ravi Ubha (@raviubha) June 2, 2023
So far it’s been relatively smooth sailing, yet obstacles clutter Djokovic’s path to tennis immortality.
While he is the heavy favourite in his clash with Varillas, and would also be in his projected quarterfinal against Karen Khachanov or Lorenzo Sonego, world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz looms as a potential semifinal opponent.
The reigning US Open champion, who missed AO 2023 due to injury, took his own Grand Slam winning streak to 10 matches after dominating Denis Shapovalov on Friday.
Alcaraz – who beat Djokovic in their only professional meeting in Madrid last year – is the favourite for the title, according to Djokovic.
But the Serb also reminded us that Grand Slam tournaments are a different beast.
Full house for this fun match-up ?#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/J3kgl4ijYY
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 27, 2023
“(It’s) a different sport in a way, because you're playing best-of-five, you are playing in the most important tournaments in the world, and the experience is on my side,” he said.
“How much will that play a role in eventual head-to-head if I get to play him or not, we'll get to see.”
It’s something we all want to see.