Novak Djokovic is all set to take on the young American sensation, Ben Shelton in the US Open 2023 semi-final on Friday. Djokovic has impressed many with his level of tennis in the tournament, beating Taylor Fritz in straight sets in the quarterfinals and overcoming the inspired Laslo Djere in a 5-set marathon match. With this semi-final, the Serbian will go past Roger Federer’s all-time record of the most number of semifinals played in Grand Slams by a men’s singles player in history.
However, as Novak Djokovic must be hellbent on breaking every tennis record, there is one that he won’t. And that belongs to another of his big rivals, Rafael Nadal. But this is one record which will take tremendous doing for even of someone like Djokovic’s caliber and here is how.
Multiple injuries throughout his career have made Rafael Nadal miss some Grand Slams unfortunately. This also meant that he could not make it to as many of those matches as Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. However, it is still commendable that Nadal has made it to 38 Grand Slam semi-finals in his career.
Out of those 38, Rafael Nadal has won 30 of those, which makes it a winning percentage of 78.9%. Nothing can describe his big-match mentality better. With his competitiveness though, Novak Djokovic is not far behind at the moment, coming second at 76.1% with 35 wins.
But here is where it gets a bit sticky for Novak Djokovic. If he wins the semi-final, his win percentage would go up to 76.6%. And should it be a defeat for Djokovic, then that figure would go down to 74.47%. So either which way, the 23-time Grand Slam champion would remain behind Nadal.
To top it all, Novak Djokovic would have to not only make it to another 6 Grand Slam semifinals besides the upcoming one but win all of them. Besides that, should Rafael Nadal return to the ATP Tour successfully by the start of 2024, Djokovic might have to selfishly hope that the Spaniard does not win another Grand Slam semi-final even if he qualifies for one.
Even as Rafael Nadal has missed out on most of the 2023 season, this question still is polarizing for most tennis lovers. Both the players have been each other’s biggest competitors, with Novak Djokovic leading marginally 30-29 on head-to-head. Djokovic leads in Grand Slams and ATP Masters titles wins by 23-22 and 39-36 respectively at the moment.
In Grand Slam match wins against each other, it is Rafael Nadal who leads 11-7 while he also is ahead, 5-4 in Grand Slam finals wins. Nadal has only lost 8 Grand Slam finals out of 38, while Djokovic has succumbed in 12 out of 35.
Even in terms of riches, Nadal and Djokovic both have on estimate earned more than $500 million if their on-court and off-court earnings are added. As of net worth, both the players are at least worth $220 million each according to multiple media reports.
