Novak Djokovic has enjoyed a long and illustrious tennis career but he is by no means ready to move aside for the younger tennis stars just yet. The Serbian has 13 Grand Slam titles to his name and at 31, he could still have several years in which to accumulate more titles.
After a less successful year in 2017 by his own standards, he roared back to the pinnacle of the game with a victory at Wimbledon, to put him back on track for catching the three male tennis players that have won more Grand Slams than him.
Djokovic is only one Grand Slam behind Sampras
He is just one away from equalling Pete Sampras’ Grand Slam total of 14, with Nadal on 16 and Federer with 20. Whilst he has not given any indication that catching those records is a big priority for him, he did confirm that his goal is to reach the No. 1 spot in the tennis rankings. He is currently ranked at No. 10 but if he can replicate his performances from Wimbledon then he will be climbing up in no time.
Injury hampered 2017 for Djokovic
He missed out on a large part of last season with an elbow injury but now he is back and is hungry for more success. The US Open next month will be his perfect opportunity to boost his rankings and he is no stranger to success at Flushing Meadows, having won there in both 2011 and 2015.
Murray rises in the ATP rankings
Another player who is on the comeback trail is Andy Murray, who looks like he will be making his Grand Slam return at the US Open. After his run in the Washington Open, Murray climbed 457 places in the ATP rankings, even though he withdrew from the tournament amid frustration at scheduling that saw him playing until 3 am in the morning. So the US Open has all of the right ingredients to be a very exciting tournament with returning stars coming back to compete.
