Unwanted streak: Djokovic without a title in 2024's first seven months

Serbia’s legendary tennis star Novak Djokovic has equalled an unwarranted streak in 2024. The 37-year-old, who is often regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis in the Open era in the singles category, has won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles.

On Sunday, Djokovic suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the final of Wimbledon to Spain’s young tennis sensation Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-2, 7-6. That result equalled an unwarranted streak for the former world number one of not winning a title in the first seven months of a season. The last time something similar happened was back in 2005.

But despite that result, Djokovic hopes his performance at the mega-event will give him the much-needed confidence to win big in the coming months. The Belgrade-born star has been going through a difficult campaign where, before Wimbledon, he even failed to qualify for the final of any event. Those results look even more astonishing considering that in 2023, Djokovic looked simply unstoppable and won three out of four Grand Slams, and his only defeat in a major tournament was at Wimbledon, where he lost to Alcaraz in the final of the mega-event in a five-set thriller.

This year, Djokovic’s best performance before Sunday was during the Australian Open, where he lost to the current world number one, Italy’s Jannik Sinner, in a four-setter clash. Things went from bad to worse in June when Djokovic suffered a knee injury during the French Open, which forced him to withdraw from the competition just before the start of the quarterfinal against Norway’s Casper Ruud. After that injury, Djokovic underwent knee surgery, which increased doubts about his participation in the mega-events such as Wimbledon and Summer Olympics. The mega-event will be played from July 26 to August 09 in the French capital city of Paris.