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World No. 1 Novak Djokovic will make his return to the court for the first time after the Adria Tour on Sunday, in the men's doubles competition of the Western and Southern Open. The Serb has received a bye in the first round of the singles event.
Djokovic doesn't often play doubles, but he seemingly wants to play as much tennis as he can in the lead-up to the US Open. He has teamed up with Filip Krajinovic for the Masters 1000 tournament, and the duo will take on wildcards Tommy Paul and Francis Tiafoe in the opening round at 3 PM local time.
Novak Djokovic has a relatively poor win-loss record of 55-72 in doubles. With numbers like that, it's not a surprise that he has never made it past the second round in the doubles category of a Grand Slam.
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While his doubles performances haven't quite been extraordinary, Djokovic has won a few big matches in his career. Here are the 17-time Grand Slam winner's five most significant doubles victories.
#5 Indian Wells 2019 - Novak Djokovic & Fabio Fognini beat Rojer & Tecau in the quarterfinals
Novak Djokovic united forces with Italian player Fabio Fognini last year at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Unlike Djokovic, Fognini was once a top 10 doubles player and had achieved decent success in the format.
The two European stars managed to make it to the final four at Indian Wells. They defeated Chardy / Raonic and Bopanna / Shapovalov in the first two rounds, before overcoming a stiff challenge in the form of Jean-Julien Rojer/ Horia Tecau in the quarterfinals.
Djokovic and Fognini took the first set 7-6 (6), but their rivals dominated them in the second and won it 6-2. The final tiebreaker went down to the wire, where the unseeded pair of Djokovic and Fognini prevailed 10-8.
The duo later lost to sixth seeds Kobot / Melo in the semifinals, but their campaign was successful already given their statement win over the highly fancied Rojer and Tecau.
#4 Rogers Cup 2018 - Novak Djokovic & Kevin Anderson beat Mahut & Herbert
Novak Djokovic decided to participate in the 2018 Roger Cup men's doubles event along with South African star Kevin Anderson. Both players had been enormously successful in singles up to that point in the year, but had never done much of note in doubles.
They began their campaign with a straight-sets win over the Canadian duo of Shapovalov / Auger-Aliassime. That set up a clash with the third-seeded pair of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in the second round.
The French team started the match well and sealed the first set 6-4. But Djokovic and Anderson then upped their game to level the match and take it to a tiebreaker.
Surprisingly, the third seeds couldn't finish off the game and the Serbian-South African duo progressed to the third round with a 10-7 win in the final set.
#3 ATP Cup 2020 - Novak Djokovic & Viktor Troicki beat Mahut & Roger-Vasselin
Novak Djokovic was in terrific form at the start of 2020. He kicked off the season by leading Serbia to a win in the inaugural ATP Cup, teaming up with Viktor Troicki for the doubles matches.
During the group stage match against France, Djokovic and Troicki took on the team of former World No. 1 doubles player Nicolas Mahut and former World No. 6 Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
The French duo were overwhelming favorites to win the game, but they lost the first set 3-6. Mahut and Edouard bounced back in the second set, winning it 7-6 (5), but they lost the third set tiebreak 10-3.
It was undoubtedly one of the most memorable wins of Novak Djokovic's doubles career, and his ecstatic post-match reaction reflected that.
#2 Wimbledon 2006 - Novak Djokovic & Daniele Bracciali beat Melzer & Muller
Novak Djokovic has won 17 singles Grand Slam titles, but in the doubles category he has only managed to win one Grand Slam match. And that was at Wimbledon 2006, against the duo of Jurgen Melzer and Gilles Muller.
The Serb played with Italy's Daniele Bracciali in the grass-court Major that year. Melzer and Muller had a good partnership, but couldn't overcome the challenge from Djokovic and Bracciali in the opening round.
All three sets went to tiebreaks, and all of them ended in favor of Djokovic's team. The Italian-Serbian duo were high on confidence heading into the second round, but the 15th seeded Argentine team of Garcia / Prieto ended their campaign by defeating them in straights.
#1 Novak Djokovic's lone career doubles title, at Queens 2020
Novak Djokovic won his only doubles trophy in 2010, teaming up with Israeli player Jonathan Erlich in the 2010 Queen's Club Championships. The unseeded pair of Djokovic and Erlich defeated seventh seeds Melo/ Soares, second seeds Moodie / Norman and eighth seeds Benneteau / Llodra to reach the finals.
In the final they clashed with Karol Beck and David Skoch, and Djokovic-Erlich lost the first set 6-7. They then drew level in the second set with a 6-2 win, and ultimately won the third set tiebreak 10-3 and with that the trophy.
It will be interesting to see if Djokovic can pick up his first doubles title in 10 years when he teams up with Filip Krajinovic this week.
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