Novak Djokovic incredibly ends US Open 2020 campaign at exact 600 hardcourt surface wins

After a gritty performance against Jan-Lennard Struff in the third round of the US Open 2020, Novak Djokovic had become just the third player ever to become a part of the exclusive club of players having won 600 matches on one surface, i.e. the hard court in this case. Djokovic beat the German No.28 seed, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 in their Round 3 encounter at Flushing Meadows on Friday. In a match that lasted just one hour and forty-three minutes, the Serb secured an easy win to advance to the Round of 16 against P Carreno Busta.

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600 wins on a single surface

With that win over Struff, Novak has reached an elusive milestone of winning 600 games on the same surface. 1977 French Open winner Guillermo Vilas was the first to achieve this distinction. At the end of his career, Vilas had won 670 games on clay surfaces. The Argentinian was known to favour clay courts as he had a record 53-match winning streak on clay, which was broken by Rafael Nadal in 2006. Nadal bettered the record to 81 unbeaten matches on clay from 2005 to 2007. This is still the longest winning streak on a single surface in tennis. After Vilas, comes the Swiss maestro Roger Federer, who has won an astonishing 782 wins on hard courts. 

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Since 1968, the beginning of the Open Era of tennis, only 27 players have won 600 ATP games. Apart from the three who have won 600 games on the same surface, Nadal holds the unique distinction of having won at least 400 games on two different surfaces. Djokovic has won a record, 8 Australian Open titles and 3 US Open titles, making him an 11-time Grand Slam champion on hard courts. Additionally, he has won 25 Masters 1000 titles on hard courts. 

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Djokovic's hardcourt run this year

This year alone, the World No 1 has clinched the Australian Open, the Cincinnati Masters and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis championships, which are all hard court events. However, the Serb denied himself his fourth US Open title in the fourth round by being defaulted against Busta by the chair umpire after inadvertently hitting the ball to a lineswoman in anger. As a result, his 26-match winning streak this year came to an abrupt end on Sunday.

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Image Credits: US Open Twitter