Novak Djokovic has spent his career redefining the limits of men’s tennis, amassing 24 Grand Slam titles and cementing his status as one of the sport’s greatest ever players.
Yet even with his unmatched dominance on the biggest stages, there is one record that continues to elude him, and some believe it could slip away for good unless he rethinks his approach.
The number in question isn’t Slam trophies or weeks at world No. 1, but total ATP career titles.
Djokovic currently stands on 100, a remarkable achievement in itself, but short of Roger Federer’s 103 and still well behind Jimmy Connors’ all-time mark of 109.
For a player who has so often embraced history, the gap is striking, and former pros are now questioning whether his carefully managed schedule is costing him the chance to overtake his rivals.
A change in direction for Djokovic
Sam Querrey, a former top American player who once beat Djokovic at Wimbledon, believes Djokovic could easily close the gap if he simply chose to play more often outside the Slams and Masters.
“If Novak wanted to pass those players, he could,” Querrey said on the Nothing Major Podcast. “He could play 250 tournaments and win them.
“We saw this year that he reached the semifinals of all four Grand Slams, which makes him the third-best player in the world at the majors. He could enter a handful of 250 tournaments this year and probably win 10 of them.”
That remark gets to the heart of Djokovic’s dilemma. At 38, his focus has narrowed to the tournaments that matter most: the Grand Slams and the year-end championships.
His last three events before the US Open were Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the Open itself, an illustration of how tightly he manages his calendar.
For Djokovic, the logic is clear, conserve energy, prolong his career, and peak when history is on the line. But critics argue that it comes at the cost of match sharpness and, perhaps, legacy totals.
Jimmy Arias, another former pro turned analyst, went further in questioning Djokovic’s lack of warm-up events before the US Open.
“The problem is that I don’t think he’s in good enough shape,” Arias said. “It’s hard to work as hard as you do in a match without adrenaline, without that feeling.
“Adrenaline takes so much out of you, and you can’t recreate it in practice. I feel like he needs to have a couple of tune-up tournaments to get used to playing.
“He was almost dying in the first match against Lerner Tien, and he was playing the night match.”
Arias’ point wasn’t just about conditioning but rhythm. Federer, despite playing a selective schedule late in his career, continued to enter ATP 250 and 500 events, picking up titles while staying match fit.
Connors, the benchmark for longevity, built his record largely on smaller events, grinding out results long after his prime. Djokovic, by contrast, seems unwilling to alter his priorities, even if it means finishing with fewer overall titles.
Does Federer edge the GOAT debate?
For fans, the numbers matter. Federer’s 103 titles have long been part of his aura, a symbol of consistency across all levels of competition.
Connors’ 109 stand as a testament to durability. Djokovic passing them both would remove one of the few statistical arguments left in the GOAT debate. Yet Querrey suspects it’s not something that keeps the Serbian awake at night.
“For that reason alone, I don’t think those numbers, passing Federer and Jimmy Connors, are important to him,” he said.
Still, the conversation lingers. Djokovic’s 24 Slams already give him the upper hand in the sport’s most important metric, but history has a way of attaching weight to every major record.
Federer’s 103 is no exception. With age catching up, the window for Djokovic to make a late surge is narrowing.
The question now is whether he adapts. Does he chase Federer and Connors by entering more tournaments, padding his totals in the process?
Or does he continue to conserve himself for the majors, where his dominance has already rewritten the record books?
The answer may determine how his career is ultimately remembered. For now, Djokovic remains firmly in control of the Grand Slam race, but unless he tweaks his schedule, Federer may hold on to at least one edge in the numbers game.
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