On this day in 2007: Fan predicts Novak Djokovic will become World No. 1 as Serb wins Miami Masters
On 1 April 2007, a spectator at the Miami Open held aloft a banner proclaiming that Novak Djokovic, then 19 years old, would go on to become World No. 1.
The Serb had just beaten Guillermo Canas, who was also on the path to ascendancy, to lift his first Masters 1000 title. The victory made him the youngest player to win the event.
While some soothsayers have been forced to wait for decades to validate their prophecies, the zealous fan who predicted the numero uno status for "The Joker" realized his dream in just over four years.
April 1, 2007: 19-year-old Novak Djokovic beats Guillermo Canas in Miami to win his first ever Masters 1000 title!
On the grounds, a fan predicted the Serb would become world No. 1. He was right 😉 https://t.co/7vievn5n8B
Seeded second in the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, Djokovic plowed through the draw, dropping just two sets en route to the semifinals, where he faced Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The Serb defeated the Frenchman in four sets to clinch the World No. 1 ranking for the first time in his career.
Ending Rafael Nadal's 20-match winning streak at the All England Club was the icing on the cake for Djokovic, who clinched his first Wimbledon title and third Major overall. The Serb hasn't looked back since.
Since the Miami win in 2007, "The Serbinator" has gone on to bag a whopping 36 more Masters 1000 titles.
Djokovic has remained at the top of the tree for a pretty long time
He has also been ranked No. 1 for a whopping 363 weeks. He briefly lost the spot to Daniil Medvedev earlier this year, but has since managed to reclaim it.
Novak's fans, who were distraught after the 34-year-old missed out on playing at the Australian Open following the visa controversy, are now celebrating the tennis legend's return to the top of the rankings ladder even as the uncertainty over his participation in future events continues.
Even so, his recent announcement that he will be part of the Monte-Carlo Masters will be music to the ears of millions of tennis fans the world over, along with the news that his presence at Roland Garros shouldn't be a problem with the recent lifting of COVID restrictions in France.
But was the ardent fan's prediction regarding the future ranking of the upcoming Serb influenced purely by adulation or was it also backed by sound reasoning?
It takes a real fan to see in their idol what, possibly, most others in the gallery miss out on - and, one thing is for sure - a tennis aficianodo predicted history in the making on that momentous first day of April, fifteen years ago.