The Life and Times of Novak Djokovic Quiz

Answer: Filippo Volandri

Volandri defeated Djokovic 7-6 6-1 in the round of 32. He went on to reach the final of the event, losing to Guillermo Canas in the final. Volandri also beat Moya, who had won the event in the previous three years, in the semi-finals. Garcia-Lopez also had an impressive week, reaching the semi-finals before losing to Canas. Djokovic reached the final in Umag two years later, but was forced to retire during the final, giving his opponent Stan Wawrinka the win and the trophy.

Answer: Greg Rusedski

Serbia & Montenegro led 2-1 in its David Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I tie with Great Britain, aided by Djokovic's singles victory over Arvind Parmar earlier in the tie. Djokovic won 6-3 4-6 6-3 7-6 to give his team an insurmountable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five match. As a result, Serbia & Montenegro remained in Group One of the Europe/Africa Zone.

This moment in Djokovic's career is even more fascinating as the Lawn Tennis Association attempted to convince Djokovic to play for Great Britain rather than his home country. Djokovic always denied his interest but admitted in 2009 that there was serious mutual interest at the time.

Answer: Beat the top three seeds in an ATP tournament

Djokovic incredibly defeated the top three ranked players in the world en route to his second Masters 1000 triumph. (He also won in Miami in 2007) Djokovic first defeated number three Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals, before beating number two Nadal in the semi-finals.

In the final, he faced world number one Federer who had won their first four meetings. However, the Serbian won a final set tie-breaker against the Swiss Maestro for his first ever victory against him. With this triumph, he became the first player since Boris Becker in 1994 to beat the top three seeds in an ATP event.

Answer: 1

Djokovic made his run to his first Grand Slam seem easy. In the first week, the Serbian defeated Benjamin Becker, Simone Bolelli and Sam Querrey. He then defeated home favourite Lleyton Hewitt in the last 16 before comfortably dispatching of David Ferrer in the quarter-finals.

In the semi-finals, Djokovic stunned three-time champion Roger Federer in straight sets, the first major final Federer had failed to reach since the 2005 French Open. Djokovic lost the opening set in the final to Tsonga, but regained his focus to win in four sets.

Answer: France

Serbia beat France 3-2 in the best-of-5 match final. Djokovic won both of his singles rubbers in the final, defeating Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils in straight sets. The Czech Republic lost in the semi-finals to Serbia, with Djokovic winning his singles rubber against Tomas Berdych. The USA fell to Serbia in the opening round. Spain was whitewashed 5-0 by France in the quarter-finals.

Djokovic's performances were instrumental in bringing Serbia its first Davis Cup. He won all seven of his singles rubbers in the World Group. Serbia had won three of its contests by a 3-2 scoreline, needing to win the last match to avoid elimination.

Answer: 10-1

Djokovic had a 6-0 record against Nadal in 2011. He beat Rafa in the Indian Wells and Miami Masters 1000 finals, despite losing the first set in both. More impressively, he also beat his rival in straight sets on clay twice, in the Madrid and Rome Masters 1000 finals. Later in the year, Djokovic carried this form to the Grand Slams, beating Nadal in four sets in both the Wimbledon and US Open finals.

Djokovic had a 4-1 record against Federer. After defeating him in straight sets in the semi-finals of the Australian Open, he then defeated the Swiss Maestro in the Dubai Masters final and also won a semi-final meeting with Federer in Indian Wells. His most incredible victory against Federer that year was the US Open semi-finals, in which Djokovic came back from two sets down, saving two match points, to win in five sets. Earlier in the year, Federer had ended Novak's 41 match winning streak in the semi-finals of the French Open, Djokovic's only loss to Federer that year.

Answer: 3rd

Djokovic's 2011 campaign was ranked as the third greatest ever, behind only Roger Federer's 2006 season and Rod Laver's 1969 season. Pete Sampras, a 14-time major winner, said it was the highest level he had ever seen, saying it was "one of the best achievements in all sports". Rafael Nadal, who had arguably been the biggest victim of Djokovic's incredile run, commented that it was "the highest level of tennis that I ever saw".

Answer: Andre Agassi

The match was a complete war of attrition. Nadal won the 80-minute long first set 7-5, but Djokovic found a new level to win the next two sets 6-4 and 6-2. By the time Nadal won the fourth set tie-break to force a deciding set, this was already the longest final ever. Nadal looked set for victory leading 4-2 in the fifth, but the game was turned on its head when Nadal missed an open court forehand in the seventh game. Djokovic won the decider 7-5. Agassi was not the only one to talk about the match's legendary status, with Pete Sampras and Boris Becker both confidently saying it was the greatest match they had ever seen.

Answer: 7

Djokovic won just one major, the 2014 Wimbledon championship, but Djokovic was still dominant in other areas of the ATP tour. He won four Masters 1000 tournaments, beating Federer in Indian Wells and Nadal in Miami and Rome. He ended the year strongly too, destroying Tomas Berdych in the China Open final before winning both of the main indoor events in Paris-Bercy and the ATP World Tour Finals in London. Djokovic's only final loss in 2014 came in the French Open final against Nadal.

Answer: 11-4

Djokovic had a 3-1 record in major finals, beating Andy Murray in the Australian Open final and Roger Federer in both the Wimbledon and US Open finals. His only Grand Slam loss in 2015 came in the French Open final against Stan Wawrinka.

The Serbian won a record-breaking six Masters 1000 tournaments, beating Federer in Indian Wells and Rome, Murray in Miami and Paris-Bercy, Tomas Berdych in Monte Carlo and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Shanghai. He lost the Montreal and Cincinnati finals to Murray and Federer respectively. His other two trophies came at the ATP World Tour Finals and the China Open.

Answer: 2009 French Open

Querrey defeated the Serbian in four sets, ending Djokovic's run of consecutive Grand Slam match wins at 31. This was his first loss before the quarter-finals of a major since the 2009 French Open, when he lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round. He was also beaten early at Wimbledon 2008, losing to Marat Safin in the second round. He reached the quarter-finals of the 2010 Australian Open, losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He was the runner-up to Federer at the 2007 US Open.

Answer: 12

Djokovic had a number of unexpected losses in the 2017 season. This included elimination from the Australian Open by Denis Istomin, a straight sets loss in the quarter-finals of the French Open to Dominic Thiem and two losses to Nick Kyrgios on the American hard courts.

He ended the year ranked 12 on the ATP World Tour, behind players such as David Goffin (8), Jack Sock (9) and Pablo Carreno Busta (10).

Answer: Fernando Verdasco

Djokovic beat the aptly-named Sandgren in straight sets in the first round. Zeballos also fell in straights to the Serbian. After a tight four-set win against Kyle Edmund in the third round, Djokovic beat Khachanov in straight sets in the fourth round. His last three opponents were Kei Nishikori (four sets), Rafael Nadal (five sets) and Kevin Anderson (straight sets).

Answer: Andy Roddick

Roddick had a 5-4 record against Djokovic, including a 5-2 record on outdoor hard courts. Djokovic arguably had the last laugh, however, thrashing Roddick in the pair's last meeting at the 2012 Olympics. Djokovic had a much better record against Davydenko, losing just two of his eight meetings with the Russian. (Davydenko does have a winning record against Rafael Nadal, however)
Djokovic never faced Sampras. His only loss to Hewitt came at the 2006 US Open, winning their other six meetings.

Answer: 5th

Djokovic placed fifth in the list, behind only Federer, Laver, Nadal and Sampras. Other tennis players and journalists have commented on Djokovic's place amongst the all-time greats. Tennis coach Nick Bollettieri referred to Djokovic as "the most perfect player of all-time". ESPN analyst Howard Bryant said that he is "the best pure tennis player in the world". Rod Laver declared Djokovic as the greatest of all time in 2016, tied with Roger Federer. WTA legends Chris Evert and Lindsay Davenport both believe that Djokovic is the game's greatest ever player.