{"id":540156,"date":"2026-01-24T19:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T19:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/540156\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T19:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T19:45:10","slug":"australian-open-novak-djokovic-secures-400th-grand-slam-match-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/540156\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Open: Novak Djokovic secures 400th Grand Slam match win"},"content":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 An even 400 in Grand Slams and 102 in Australia. Novak Djokovic<\/a> just keeps setting tennis records.<\/p>\n

The 24-time major winner<\/a> became the first player to reach 400 wins in Grand Slam singles when he beat Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Saturday night in the third round of the Australian Open.<\/p>\n

It improved his win-loss record to 102-10 at the Australian Open, too, equaling Roger Federer\u2019s career haul for the most-ever match wins at the season\u2019s first major.<\/p>\n

Djokovic has won the Australian Open 10 times, more than anyone else. At 38, he\u2019s in Australia aiming for a 25th career major that would make him the most decorated tennis player of all time.<\/p>\n

Djokovic apologized for a moment of frustration in the seventh game of the second set, when he swiped the ball away angrily and it flew just past a ball girl crouching at the net post.<\/p>\n

\u201cI apologized for that. That was not necessary and in the heat of the moment,\u201d he said. \u201cI was lucky there and I\u2019m sorry for causing any distress to the ball kid or anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic was disqualified from the U.S. Open in 2020<\/a> for accidentally hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball by angrily smacking a ball behind him after dropping a game in his fourth-round match.<\/p>\n

Aside from that brief loss of temper, Djokovic was mostly in control against van de Zandschulp and was untroubled except for a few moments in the third set \u2014 when he tripped and tumbled to the court in the third game, and later when he faced two set points in the 12th.<\/p>\n

A medical timeout at the changeover after the third, when the trainer taped the ball of his right foot, and a forehand winner down the line diffused the first two of those issues.<\/p>\n

As Djokovic faced his second set point, chair umpire John Blom had to urge the crowd \u2014 repeatedly \u2014 not to make noise between the first and second serves.<\/p>\n

An animated Djokovic saved the next one, too, pretending to head the ball like a soccer player as the Dutchman\u2019s shot sailed over the baseline.<\/p>\n

The crowd chanted \u201cNole, Nole, Nole\u201d in support before he produced a winning serve to force a tiebreaker, which he won.<\/p>\n

Djokovic was happy to be playing a night match on a day when the tournament\u2019s extreme heat policy had to be invoked and two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner struggled before advancing in the afternoon conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI managed to have a \u2018good\u2019 fall if you can say so, I could protect myself,\u201d Djokovic said of the tumble. \u201cThings could have been pretty ugly.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said his body is feeling good for this stage of the tournament, but he\u2019s not getting too far ahead of himself after semifinals at all four majors last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI must say, it\u2019s been a great start of the tournament,\u201d he said. \u201cLast year I learned a lesson. I got too excited too early in some of the Grand Slams … getting injured three out of four.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz split the four majors between them and, while Djokovic concedes \u201cthey\u2019re playing on a different level right now,\u201d he added: \u201cI\u2019m still trying to give these young guys a push for their money.\u201d<\/p>\n

With his first-round win over Pedro Martinez, Djokovic<\/a> equaled two all-time tennis records by starting his 21st Australian Open and his 81st Grand Slam event, and he added another milestone with his 100th win at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n

That made him the first man to win 100 or more matches on three surfaces at the Grand Slams, with his 102 on grass at Wimbledon and 101 on clay at Roland Garros.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

More AP tennis: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/tennis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 An even 400 in Grand Slams and 102 in Australia. Novak Djokovic just keeps…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":540157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[38341,101585,1466,57,1824,238482,18929,9125,238481,13158,235115,62,1464,67,132,68,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-540156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-australian-open","9":"tag-australian-open-tennis-championships","10":"tag-carlos-alcaraz","11":"tag-general-news","12":"tag-jannik-sinner","13":"tag-john-blom","14":"tag-melbourne","15":"tag-novak-djokovic","16":"tag-pedro-martinez-portero","17":"tag-roger-federer","18":"tag-send-to-apple-news","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-tennis","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115951797887891192","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}