Tennis
Djokovic set an unrealistic record. And beautifully mocked the opponent
The history of men’s tennis has never known such a thing.
Serb Novak Djokovic, even at the age of 36, continues to perform at a high level, simultaneously updating tennis records. Once again, the legendary player wrote his name into history after a brilliant victory over longtime opponent Gael Monfils. No other tennis player in history has had so many victories in a row without defeats!
The most convenient opponent
Over a long career, Djokovic has set a number of incredible records. Standing out among them is 23 Grand Slam titles, an achievement that young tennis players will find very hard to replicate. Rafael Nadal remains Nola’s only competitor, but he has been more treated than he has been playing lately. On account of the Spaniard 22 victories.
Novak also owns a number of fantastic achievements: for example, a record for the number of weeks on the first line of the rating (389). In addition, the Serbian is the only one who has been able to win all the Grand Slam tournaments and all nine Masters. On the last he won 38 times.
On August 17, Djokovic’s incredible records were replenished with another achievement. The French tennis player Gael Monfils “helped” the Serb in this. The thing is that this is the most convenient opponent for Novak. All 18 previous matches under the auspices of the ATP ended in victory for Djokovic. There was only one such case in the history of tennis: Nadal scored as many victories over Richard Gasquet.
The next confrontation between Novak and Gael in the third round of the tournament in Cincinnati again remained with the Serb. Djokovic dealt with his opponent in two sets (6:3; 6:2), spending a little more than an hour to win. This allowed Nola to become the owner of the longest unbeaten streak over one tennis player under the auspices of the ATP – 19 matches!
“Good to see him again”
After the game, Djokovic spoke rather warmly about the rivalry with Monfils. The Serb sincerely rejoiced at the recent successes of his long-term rival.
“It was kind of an evolution of both players over the past 15+ years, when we met each other in different parts of the world, including in juniors and, of course, in professionals. Nice to see him again, we haven’t played in a few years. It’s great that he’s playing well again at such a high level,” Novak said.
A few hours later, the story with the record got a funny continuation. On social networks, Monfils posted a photo of a T-shirt in which he played at a tournament in Cincinnati. On it, Djokovic left an autograph, the number “19” and a funny inscription: “I’m sorry, but I’m not sorry!”
Interestingly, Gael still has one victory over a sworn opponent. It happened back in 2004 at Futures in Italy. Tournaments in this category are run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for young players and are not included in ATP statistics.
The historical achievement of tennis players can be updated in a few weeks. Both athletes are going to compete at the US Open, but whether the tournament lot will bring them together is still unknown.
Source: Sportbox
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.
They will face each other in the first round of the Australian Open on January 20 Angelina Kalinina (WTA 178) – Wang Xinyu (WTA 43).
The match is scheduled to start at 03.30 Kyiv time.
Sport.ua together with a betting partner bet announcing the upcoming fight!
Angelina Kalinina
The Ukrainian athlete was out of the top 100 last season and will be out of action for six months. In December, Kalinina managed to take the cup in Limoges – there was a good squad at the WTA 125 tournament.
The athlete tried to play in Adelaide, but immediately lost to Hungarian Bondar in qualifying with scores of 4:6, 6:7. The first big game of the season also had to start with the qualifying matches; Here they managed to beat Garland from Taiwan 7:5, 6:2, Koevermans from the Netherlands 7:6, 6:0 and in the final they beat Chwalinska from Poland 5:7, 6:2, 6:1.
A good game in qualifying clearly boosted Kalinina’s confidence; The Ukrainian athlete reached the third round at the Australian Open the most, and he should try to break his personal record.
Wang Xinyu
The Chinese athlete must be familiar to Ukrainian tennis fans because it was Wang who recently played in the final of the tournament in Auckland, where she lost to Elina Svitolina 3:6, 6:7. Although he could not win the title, the tennis player can definitely be satisfied with his performance, because he beat rivals such as American McNally – 2:6, 6:3, 7:5, Mexican Sarazua – 7:5, 6:4, British Jones – 6:4, 4:3, and Francesca withdrew. In the semi-final, a tough victory was achieved against Eala from the Philippines, 5:7, 7:5, 6:4.
There was also a tournament in Hobart, where the Chinese woman started with a 6:2, 6:3 victory over Australian Gibson, followed by a 1:6, 5:7 defeat by Poland’s Linette. Wang never got past the second round at the Australian majors.
To guess
Statistics show that the athletes have never played each other, and on paper the Chinese woman is a slight favourite. There is a meeting of two powerful middle peasants, so we can expect an approximately equal struggle.
It is important for tennis players to play to their strengths. I think such a match could be extended, so I predict the total over 20.5 matches will be 1.74.
Angelina Kalinina01/20/2026 –
03:30
Wang Xinyu 1.74 place a bet KRAIL License No. 559 dated 12/05/2024 Source: Sport UA
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
19 January Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) updated the world rankings after the WTA 500 in Adelaide and the WTA 250 in Auckland, as well as the Australian Open 2026.
Ukraine’s first racket, Elina Svitolina, remained in 12th place. Like top 20 starter Marta Kostyuk, she missed the previous week.
Dayana Yastremskaya left 500th place in the first round in Adelaide and fell to 28th place in the updated rankings. She lost to Hobart finalist Iva Jovic.
Alexandra Oleynikova, Angelina Kalinina, Anastasia Soboleva also lost a few places. Katarina Zawatskaya added three lines.
Ukrainian women in the WTA rankings
There was only one change in the top 10; Adelaide champion Mirra Andreeva moved past Jasmine Paolini to move into seventh place.
While Arina Sabalenka continues to be the first racket, she is followed by Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova and Jessica Pegula.
Elisabetta Cocciaretto, winner of the competition in Hobart, added a further 24 places and is now in 56th place.
Top 10 WTA rankings
In the WTA doubles rankings, Ukraine’s first racket, Lyudmila Kichenok, rose two places to 25th place.
Her sister Nadezhda Kichenok rose one place to 45th place. The top 100 also includes Marta Kostyuk – she is in 90th place.
Ukrainian women in WTA double the rankings
Source: Sport UA
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic (Serbia, ATP 4) reached the second round of the major.
Serbs in the first round Pedro Martínez (Spain, ATP 71) within 2 hours.
Australian Open 2026. 1/64 finals
Pedro Martinez (Spain) – Novak Djokovic (Serbia) [4] – 3:6, 2:6, 2:6
Djokovic played his first head-to-head match against Pedro.
Novak won his 100th Australian Open victory. Novak became the second player with over 100 wins in men’s singles matches at the Australian Open, after Roger Federer (102).
Djokovic also became the first tennis player to reach this mark in three different Grand Slam tournaments (101 – Roland Garros, 102 – Wimbledon). Novak has 95 wins at the US Open.
Djokovic is playing the 81st major of his career and is on a par with Roger Federer and Feliciano Lopez in this indicator.
Novak’s next opponent will be Francesco Maestrelli (Italy, ATP 141) in the qualifiers.
Video review of the match
Photo gallery of the match
infographics
Source: Sport UA
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
-
Ligue 13 years agoRenato Sanchez signed in Paris for five years
-
Europa League4 years agoIn transfer alert at Olympiakos for additions and concessions
-
Europa League4 years agoFenerbahce – Eintracht 1: 1: The Germans took 1st place in the Olympiacos group
-
Europa League4 years agoWithout Nainggolan and Samata, the 11th team from Antwerp
-
Europa League4 years agoEuropa League
-
Europa League4 years agoAtalanta announced the acquisition of Boga
-
Europa League4 years agoFears that Zapata will be out for 4 months
-
Premier League4 years agoExcept for the rest of January, Sean was injured