Novak Djokovic Scripts History, Becomes First Player To Reach Fifty Grand Slam Semi-Finals

Novak Djokovic became the first male player in history to complete a half-century of reaching the major championship semi-finals.

Hyderabad: Legendary tennis professional Novak Djokovic continued his stellar performance and dominance as he defeated his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinal of the 2024 Australian Open.

After losing the last two Wimbledon finals to the 21-year-old, Djokovic lost the first set in the Australian Open quarterfinal. However, the 37-year-old was in the mood to let Alcaraz dethrone him on his favourite hunting ground and made a stunning comeback to outclass his opponent by winning the match in four sets: 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

With this emphatic win, Novak Djokovic scripted yet another history by becoming the first men's singles player in history to reach the semi-final of a major tournament 50 times. Notably, He already holds the world record for the player with the most semi-final appearances in Grand Slams after beating long-time rival Roger Federer's record (46).

Djokovic has been a part of 12 Australian Open and 12 French Opens. He has also competed in the semi-finals at Wimbledon and US Open 13 times each.

Djokovic has reached the semifinals of 50 major events in just 77 appearances (64.98%). The only other player who has reached the semi-final of more than 60% of Grand Slams is Bjorn Borg (60.71%). The Swede legend played 28 Grand Slams in his career and was part of the last four in 17 of them while winning 11 titles.

The Serbian is closing in on Chris Evert's record (52) for the most semifinal appearances in Grand Slams by a singles player (male or female).

Djokovic will face second seed Alexander Zverev on Friday in the semi-final as he aims to win a record-extending 11th Australian Open title break Margaret Court's record and become the first player (male or female) to win 25 singles major titles.