3 milestones awaiting Novak Djokovic at 2020 Indian Wells
Novak Djokovic became the first player to win five Indian Wells titles when he beat Milos Raonic in the 2016 final.
By lifting his 27th Masters 1000 title, the then 28-year-old Serb emulated Roger Federer as the only players to do a 'three-peat' at the tournament, having beaten the Swiss maestro in three-set Indian Wells finals in 2014-15.
Djokovic, who is one of the three players to win 50 matches at Indian Wells, the others being Federer and Rafael Nadal, has won only three matches at the tournament since lifting his fifth title in 2016. As the Serb looks to extend his perfect 18-0 start to the season at the first Masters 1000 stop on the tennis calendar, let us have a look at 3 milestones which he could achieve at 2020 Indian Wells.
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# 1 First player to win a Masters 1000 title in 3 different decades
Djokovic lifted his fifth Paris-Bercy title in the 2019 edition of the tournament. It marked his record 29th Masters 1000 title of the decade.
The Serb, who made his Masters 1000 title breakthrough at 2007 Miami as a teenager, garnered a total of five titles in the tournament category in the 2000s decade.
By winning the title at 2020 Indian Wells, his first at the tournament in four years, Djokovic would become the first player to win a Masters 1000 title in three different decades. The 32-year-old Serb already holds the record of being the first player to win Grand Slam titles in three different decades when he triumphed at the 2020 Australian Open.
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# 2 Go level with Nadal for most Masters 1000 titles (35)
By beating young Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the 2019 Madrid Masters final, Djokovic lifted his 33rd Masters 1000 title to go level with Nadal's then all-time leading tally of 33 titles in the tournament category.
The next week, Djokovic fell to Nadal in the Rome final to fall behind in the all-time Masters 1000 title leaderboard. Nadal won his second Masters 1000 title of the year at the 2019 Coupe Rogers to increase his title tally to 35 before Djokovic moved to within one title of the Spaniard by winning the 2019 Paris-Bercy title.
If the 32-year-old Serb wins the 2020 Indian Wells title, which would be his first at the tournament in four years, he will go level with Nadal for the most Masters 1000 titles won by any player.
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# 3 Become the first player to win 6 titles at Indian Wells
If the top-ranked Djokovic produces a title run at Indian Wells for the first time since his last triumph at the tournament in 2016, it would make the 17-time Grand Slam champion the first 6-time winner at the first Masters 1000 tournament on the tennis calendar.
Since a defeat to Nadal in his first Masters 1000 final at this very tournament in 2007, the 32-year-old Serb has since gone 5-0 in Indian Wells finals while accomplishing an impressive 50-9 match wins record during 14 previous appearances at the tournament.
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