Novak Djokovic: 16 stats for his 16th Grand Slam singles title

Novak Djokovic outlasted Roger Federer in an absolutely epic final at Wimbledon, fighting off two match points in the fifth set in a 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3) victory that will never be forgotten.

Here are 16 things Djokovic achieved by winning The Championships this year:

1. He won his 16th career Grand Slam title. Rafael Nadal got within two Slams of Federer’s total by winning Roland Garros, and now Djokovic is within two of Nadal’s total by winning Wimbledon. With 20, 18 and 16, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have the three highest Grand Slam title totals of any men in tennis history.

2. He won his fifth Wimbledon title. Djokovic—the 2011, 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019 champion—is the sixth man in history to win Wimbledon five times, after eight-time champion Federer, seven-time champions William Renshaw and Pete Sampras, and fellow five-time champions Laurie Doherty and Bjorn Borg.

3. He’s the first man in the Open Era to save match points en route to the Wimbledon title. No man has saved match points en route to the title since 1960, and no man has done it in a final since 1948.

4. He won the longest final in Wimbledon history. At four hours and 57 minutes, the 2019 final surpassed the 2008 championship between Nadal and Federer, which lasted four hours and 48 minutes.

5. He has now won four of the last five Grand Slams, and 33 of his last 34 matches at Grand Slams. Since the start of Wimbledon last year, Djokovic's only loss at a Grand Slam came to Dominic Thiem in the semifinals of the French Open, and just barely: it was a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 scoreline.

6. He's now on a 14-match winning streak at Wimbledon. His last loss at All England Club came in the 2017 quarterfinals, when he retired against Tomas Berdych due to a right elbow injury.

7. He has now won 10 of his last 12 Grand Slam finals. Midway through the 2014 season, Djokovic had a losing record in Grand Slam finals—6-7—but he leaves Wimbledon this year at 16-9.

8. He’s now 5-1 in Wimbledon finals. His only loss came in 2013, when he fell to Andy Murray, the first British man to win Wimbledon since 1936, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.

9. He has now beaten Federer five times in a row. Federer’s last win over Djokovic came in the round robin of the ATP Finals in 2015; since then, Djokovic has beaten him in the final of the ATP Finals in 2015, the Australian Open in 2016, Cincinnati and Paris in 2018, and now Wimbledon in 2019.

Before this five-match win streak, Djokovic had never beaten Federer more than three times in a row.

10. He’s now 26-22 overall against Federer. Broken down by surface, Djokovic leads 19-17 on hard courts, 3-1 on grass, and they’re tied, 4-4, on clay.

11. He’s the second player ever to beat Federer 10 times at Grand Slams. Nadal is 10-4 against Federer at the Grand Slams; Djokovic is now 10-6. No other player has more than two wins over Federer at majors.

This was also the third time Djokovic has saved match point to beat Federer at a major—he did it twice at the US Open, in five-set semifinal wins in 2010 and 2011.

12. He won the first 12-12 final-set tie-break of the tournament in singles. The first singles match to go to a 12-all tie-break at Wimbledon turned out to be the very last one of the fortnight.

13. He qualified for the ATP Finals. Nadal became the first player to qualify for the ATP Finals on his way to the Wimbledon semifinals; with his win, Djokovic qualified for the season-ending event for the 12th time in his career. The Serb is a five-time champion at the event, in 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

14. He has a 4,470-point cushion at No. 1. With just 1,090 points to defend in Canada and Cincinnati, it’s safe to say Djokovic's No. 1 ranking will be safe until at least his title defense at the US Open.

15. The Big Three have now won 11 Grand Slams in a row. Djokovic, Nadal and Federer have won all 11 Grand Slams since the start of 2017—four for Djokovic, four for Nadal and three for Federer.

16. Thirty-somethings have now won 12 Grand Slams in a row. The last man under 30 to win a major was then-29-year-old Murray, at Wimbledon in 2016.