3 players who have a positive head-to-head record against Novak Djokovic after multiple meetings
Novak Djokovic suffered a shock defeat against Jiri Vesely in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Thursday. Courtesy of the loss, the Serb is guaranteed to relinquish the World No. 1 spot to Daniil Medvedev this coming Monday.
Vesely, ranked No. 123 in the ATP rankings, was not expected to be the one to deny the 20-time Grand Slam champion his 362nd week as the top-ranked male tennis player. The Czech now has an enviable 2-0 lead in the head-to-head against the 34-year-old, making him one of only three players to have never lost to the Serb despite facing him more than once.
Three players have beaten Novak Djokovic multiple times and never lost to him.
Marat Safin 2-0
Nick Kyrgios 2-0
Jiri Vesely 2-0
Djokovic has faced 164 players on multiple occasions over his career. He has a positive head-to-head against 147 opponents while he is tied with 11. The Serb has a losing head-to-head against only six players, out of which he has failed to win a match against three.
With a minimum of two matches, Jiri Vesely becomes just the *6th* player with a positive H2H vs Djokovic:
Roddick - 5-4
Gonzalez - 2-1
Karlovic - 2-1
Safin - 2-0
Kyrgios - 2-0
Vesely - 2-0 https://t.co/RNc2lUWu5L
The three who have been defeated but continue to have a positive win-loss record against the Serb are Andy Roddick (5-4), Ivo Karlovic (2-1) and Fernando Gonzalez (2-1). As for the other three, here they are:
#1 Marat Safin
Marat Safin faced Novak Djokovic twice in his career and won both encounters without losing a single set. More impressively, both of their meetings came at Grand Slams.
Safin faced the Serb for the first time in the first round of the 2005 Australian Open, which also happened to be the World No. 1's first appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam. The Russian won the fixture 6-0, 6-2, 6-1 in dominating fashion and went on to win the tournament for his second Major.
2005 Australian Open Men's 1st Round:
(4)Marat Safin def. qualifier Novak Djokovic 6-0, 6-2, 6-1
This was Djokovic's 1st match in the main draw of a major
He has now won the Australian Open 9 times
Safin would go on to win the 2005 Australian Open for his 2nd and final major https://t.co/MVj3rePxXM
Their second encounter came in the second round of the 2008 Wimbledon, where the 20-time Grand Slam champion was seeded third. Despite that, the unseeded Safin ended up winning 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-2. The former World No. 1 progressed as far as the semifinals before falling to Roger Federer.
#2 Nick Kyrgios
Nick Kyrgios has faced Novak Djokovic twice in his career so far, and has won both meetings without dropping a single set. Both matches were played on hardcourt, inarguably the Serb's best surface statistically.
Their first meeting came in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Mexican Open, where the World No. 1 was the top seed. Kyrgios, seeded sixth in the tournament, ended up winning 7-6(9), 7-5. The Australian went on to reach the semifinals, where he lost to eventual winner Sam Querrey.
The second encounter between the pair came in the fourth round of the Indian Wells Masters the same year. The World No. 1 was seeded second this time around but was beaten 6-4, 7-6(3) by Kyrgios, who was seeded 15th. The former World No. 13 was supposed to take on Federer in the quarterfinals, but withdrew before the match due to food poisoning.
#3 Jiri Vesely
Jiri Vesely has had three match-ups against Djokovic but the duo have only faced each other on the tennis court twice, with both meetings going in favor of the Czech. The pair were supposed to meet in the second round of the 2016 US Open but Vesely withdrew before the match. The World No. 1 went on to reach the final before losing to Stan Wawrinka.
Djokovic's first loss against the former World No. 35 came in the second round of the Monte-Carlo Masters. The unseeded Vesely shocked the top seed 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 but fell in the next match against Gael Monfils.
LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE ⚡️ ⚡️
@jiri_vesely stuns Djokovic for the 2nd time in his career, ending his reign at No. 1 with a 6-4 7-6 victory! https://t.co/YXVuWHCuxq
The second encounter came yesterday in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Dubai Tennis Championship. This time around, the top seed lost 6-4, 7-6(4) against the 28-year-old, who came all the way through qualifying to prevent the Serb from maintaining his World No. 1 ranking.
Having beaten two seeded players on the trot (beating Roberto Bautista Agut in the second round), Vesely squares off against sixth seed Denis Shapovalov for a place in the final.