5 Active players who have a winning head-to-head record against Novak Djokovic

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Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic

#3: Taro Daniel (1-0)

Taro Daniel
Taro Daniel

Japanese journeyman Taro Daniel locked horns with five-time champion Djokovic in the second round of the 2018 Indian Wells Masters. The Serb was coming off a brief injury-induced hiatus following a fourth-round loss at the Australian Open to Hyeon Chung.

On the day, Daniel ran out a 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-1 victor to hand Djokovic a rare pair of back-to-back defeats on the tour.


#2: Ivo Karlovic (2-1)

Ivo Karlovic
Ivo Karlovic

Perhaps it is a statistical quirk but Djokovic hasn't been able to tame the big serves of Ivo Karlovic, the tallest player ever to have wielded a tennis racquet, like he has managed against the other big servers in the game like Milos Raonic (10-0) or John Isner (10-2).

Since winning his first meeting against the 6'11'' Croatian on the clay courts of the Hamburg Masters in 2008, where Djokovic ran out a straight-set victor, it is Karlovic who has prevailed in the pair's two subsequent tour meetings.

Karlovic evened the pair's rivalry at one apiece following a straight-set win in the second round of the 2008 Madrid Masters before prevailing in three sets in the 2015 Doha quarter-finals to take the head-to-head lead against Djokovic.


#1: Nick Kyrgios (2-0)

Nick Kyrgios (right) beats Djokovic at the 2017 Acapulco Open.
Nick Kyrgios (right) beats Djokovic at the 2017 Acapulco Open.

Nick Kyrgios is the only player after his compatriot Lleyton Hewitt to have beaten Nadal, Djokovic, and Federer in their respective first matches against the trio.

In the pair's first meeting on Tour in 2017, the combustible Australian beat the then No. 2 ranked Djokovic in the Acapulco quarter-finals. This made the then 21-year-old Kyrgios the youngest player to beat each member of the Big-3 trio of Nadal (2014 Wimbledon 4th round), Federer (2015 Madrid 2nd round), and Djokovic (2017 Acapulco quarter-finals).

A week later, when the pair met again in the opening round at Indian Wells, lightning struck twice as Kyrgios won without dropping a set once again. In the process, the Australian joined Marat Safin as the only other player to record multiple wins against Djokovic without losing once.

Also read: Djokovic's three records at Indian Wells.

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Edited by Zaid Khan
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