Djokovic joins elite club of gladiators; completes 100 weeks as No.1
Consistency is a difficult virtue, neither easy to acquire nor sustain. The climb is hard and the air is thick. It isn’t comfortable living on the high perch of tennis with a bull’s eye painted on your back. Since the launch of the rankings in 1973, only nine of the 25 men who have embellished their career with the top ranking have gone on to survive life at the peak for over 100 weeks.
Like the nine unknown men of the great emperor Ashoka, who held sway over a wealth of human knowledge, these are nine great champions that have reigned over the ATP World Tour for lengthy periods of time. Only, there was no need for a cloak of anonymity for these modern gladiators.
Rafael Nadal of Spain poses with the US Open Championship trophy next to Novak Djokovic of Serbia as he celebrates winning the men’s singles final on Day Fifteen of the 2013 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 9, 2013 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
The efforts of Novak Djokovic and his ilk in turning up week after week, performing at a high enough level to retain their grasp on the throne of tennis, is a study in committed effort and sustained brilliance that is hard to emulate. In a sport where every match is a test, 100 weeks or more as the world No.1 represents a remarkable feat of consistency built around skill, commitment and sheer hard work.
The man to first ascend the seat of power was the volatile Romanian Ilie Nastase, who won the US Open in 1972 and the French Open the following year as he rode through a period of rich harvest to claim the top rank in August 1973. Nastase, though, could only retain his arm on the chair for so long before relinquishing it after 40 weeks at the helm.
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*Numbers in weeks spent as world No.1
Jimmy Connors became the first player to go past the 100 week mark during his five year reign that started in 1974 and extended into 1978. The ageless American, whose many feats of longevity remain untouched to this day, was the one who found this elite club of men with a sustained presence at the top of their game. When Connors discharged the honour of being No.1 for the last time in July 1983, he had completed 268 weeks at the peak.
Bjorn Borg, the sparkling Swede who took the game by storm with his understated brilliance, snatched the honour from Connors to establish an empire of his own. Except for a brief interlude with the tag in August 1977 till his final tryst at the top in August 1981, Borg completed a punctuated run of 109 weeks at the top rung of tennis.
The next to ascend the emperor’s court was the mercurial John McEnroe. Beginning with a three week stint in March 1980, McEnroe stepped on and off the pedestal, playing musical chairs with Borg, Connors and Ivan Lendl before eventually completing his 270th week at the top in September 1985. McEnroe’s brilliant touch enthralled and imprisoned his opponents in equal measure. The temperamental American, though, was a victim of his own sporadic sparks of transcendental brilliance as he flitted in and out of the shaky perch.