Novak Djokovic becomes just 2nd male player, after Rafael Nadal, to play 100 matches at French Open
Novak Djokovic added another feather to his cap at the French Open. On Sunday, the Serbian tennis great became just the second male player to play 100 singles matches at the claycourt Major.
Djokovic took to the iconic Court Suzanne-Lenglen on Sunday for his fourth-round match at the French Open, against Diego Schwartzman. By doing so, he joined his great rival Rafael Nadal as the only players to have played at least 100 official men's singles matches at Roland Garros.
Nadal leads the field with 111 matches played (not including his fourth-round match) at the Grand Slam event in Paris.
While Nadal and Djokovic lead the race at the French Open, their Big 3 colleague Roger Federer holds the record when it comes to Grand Slam tennis in general. No player has played as many matches in a single Major tournament as Federer, who has made 119 appearances at Wimbledon. Federer is also second on the list with 117 matches played at the Australian Open.
Novak Djokovic reaches 16th French Open quarterfinal and 52nd Grand Slam quarterfinal
The World No. 1 made light work of a challenging opponent in Schwartzman in the fourth round, winning 6-1, 6-3, 6-3. In doing so, he reached his 13th consecutive quarterfinal at Roland Garros.
The top seed's victory over Schwartzman also took him into his 16th quarterfinal at Roland Garros. He also entered his 52nd quarterfinal at a Major which is second only to Federer, who has 58 appearances in the last eight of a Grand Slam event.
On the previous 51 occasions where Novak Djokovic reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal, he ended up making the final on 31 of those instances.
Despite Roland Garros being the Major where he has won the fewest titles (two), the Serb's 85 match wins at the event are a personal best for him at a Major.
The World No. 1 is yet to drop a set at the 2022 French Open. He will take on either Felix Auger-Aliassime or Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.