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The 22-time Grand Slam singles champion from Serbia, Novak Djokovic has made history by becoming the first men’s tennis player to reach 17 quarter-finals in the French Open. He has surpassed his arch-rival, the Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who has been a part of 16 quarter-finals at the Roland Garros.
On June 4, the 36-year-old Serb won in straight sets against Juan Pablo Varillas of Peru by a score line of 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 at a windy Court Philippe Chatrier. With that, he also consolidated his record for most consecutive quarter-final appearances to 14 in the French Open, which is five more than the recently retired tennis legend Roger Federer of Switzerland.
With his historic victory in the round of 16, the world number three Novak Djokovic has gotten one step closer to his dream of winning a Grand Slam singles title for a whopping 23rd time. He will play the 11th seed Karen Khachanov of Russia in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, in the post-match chat, the Serbian tennis player talked about achieving the recent record and said, “I am proud of all the records, but it also means I am not young anymore.”
Djokovic also shared his insight about all the effort he has been putting in behind the scenes to continue playing tennis at the highest level, while getting older by the day. He was quoted as saying, “I put in a lot of effort like all the players, and the situation is not the same as, say, 10 years ago. When I play like today, I am satisfied and motivated to continue.”