2020 Novak Djokovic tennis season

At the 2020 ATP Cup, Djokovic defeated Kevin Anderson in 3 tight sets, as Team Serbia thrashed Team South Africa 3–0. Djokovic then won his singles match against Gaël Monfils in straight sets. He also won in 3 sets, in doubles with Viktor Troicki, winning the tiebreak set and saving Team Serbia. Serbia defeated Team France 2–1. Djokovic easily beat Cristian Garín in straight sets as Team Serbia beat Team Chile 3–0, and in the quarterfinals, Novak beat Denis Shapovalov in 3 sets, while Team Serbia thrashed Team Canada 3–0. Even in the semifinals, Djokovic beat Daniil Medvedev in 3 sets, while Team Serbia defeated Team Russia 3–0. In the final, Djokovic saved Team Serbia against Team Spain. He beat Rafael Nadal in straight sets, and partnered Viktor Troicki to win doubles in straight sets. Thus, Team Serbia won 2-1 and with that, won the inaugural ATP Cup title.[4]

Before the actual tournament, Djokovic participated in a charity event called "Rally For Relief", to extend help for Australians suffering in the Australian Bushfires. He played for Team Williams as they defeated Team Wozniacki, 4–1. In the actual tournament, Djokovic started his title defence with a four-set win over Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round. He then defeated Tatusma Ito, Yoshihito Nishioka, Diego Schwartzman, Milos Raonic and Roger Federer, all in straight sets, to reach the final of the Australian Open. Despite being down 2 sets to 1, Djokovic came back and won the next 2 sets, to defeat Dominic Thiem in the final, and win a record-extending eighth title in Melbourne. He became World No. 1 again, and stayed as World No. 1 for all weeks, except one week, until June 2022.[5]

Djokovic won for the fifth time in Dubai. He won in straight sets against Malek Jaziri, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Karen Khachanov. He saved 3 match points in his semifinal against Gaël Monfils and went on to win in 3 sets. He then defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas, the second seed, in straight sets, in the final.

He extended his winning streak to 21 matches.[6]

On March 8, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season went on hiatus for several months.[7] The following measures were taken:

• The ATP and WTA announced the suspension of their 2020 tournaments until August 16.[8][9][10] On March 18, the ATP froze their player rankings.[11]
• On March 17, the French Tennis Federation announced the decision of postponing the French Open, to be held now from September 27 to October 11, 2020.[12][13]
• On March 24, after talks between Japan's prime minister and the International Olympic Committee president, the 2020 Summer Olympics were officially postponed to 2021.[14] On March 30, the various organising entities reached an agreement to hold the Olympics between July 23 and August 8, 2021.[15]
• On April 1, the All England Club announced the decision of cancelling Wimbledon, opting to focus on the 2021 edition of the tournament.[16]
• In June, Djokovic hosted a special charity tennis tournament called Adria Tour, across his home nation Serbia and it's neighbouring countries, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia, since those countries had little to no cases of COVID. He planned four tournaments and an exhibition match for the same. Dominic Thiem won the first leg of the Tour in Belgrade, and the final of the second leg was supposed to take place in Zadar, between Djokovic and Andrey Rublev, but it was cancelled after Tour participants Grigor Dimitrov and Borna Ćorić tested positive for the Coronavirus. Soon, even Djokovic tested positive, and the Tour had to be cancelled and scrapped. Djokovic landed in controversy for organizing this tour but was later cleared of all allegations against him.

Djokovic started with straight sets wins over Ričardas Berankis, Tennys Sandgren and Jan-Lennard Struff. After a 3-set semifinal win over Roberto Bautista Agut, Djokovic won the title, defeating Milos Raonic in the final, 1–6, 6–3, 6–4. By doing so, he won his 35th Masters 1000 title, tying Rafael Nadal's record of most ATP Masters 1000 titles. Djokovic also achieved the Career Golden Masters for a second time and became the first player to win an ATP Tour singles title upon its resumption, after it was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.[17]

Djokovic entered the US Open as the top seed. Djokovic beat Damir Džumhur in straight sets, Kyle Edmund in 4 sets, and Jan-Lennard Struff in straight sets to advance to the fourth round against 20th seed Pablo Carreño Busta. The fourth round match was uneventful until the tenth game, when Carreño Busta came back down 0–40 to hold serve; Djokovic had frustratedly hit a ball into an advertising board earlier when Carreño Busta tied it at deuce. At 5-5, Djokovic was injured and had to be treated on the court. When the match resumed, Carreño Busta took the game and a 6–5 lead in the first set, at which point Djokovic pulled out a spare ball from his pocket and again hit it behind him. The ball unintentionally struck a lineswoman in the throat, who fell to her knees and started hyperventilating.[19][20][21] Djokovic was then defaulted from the tournament for recklessness, ending his US Open run. The US Open issued a statement regarding the default.[22][18]

Djokovic defeated Salvatore Caruso and compatriot Filip Krajinović in straight sets. He defeated Dominik Koepfer in 3 sets in the quarterfinals, and he defeated Casper Ruud in the semifinals in straight sets. Djokovic won a record 36th ATP Tour Masters 1000 title and his fifth in Rome, by defeating Diego Schwartzman in the final 7–5, 6–3.[23]

Djokovic attempted to become the first man in the Open Era to win each Grand Slam at least twice.[24] He defeated Mikael Ymer, Berankis, Daniel Elahi Galán and Khachanov in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, Djokovic defeated Carreño Busta in 4 sets. He won a 5-set thriller against Tsitsipas in the semifinal.[25] He lost in the final in straight sets to Nadal, 6–0 6–2 7–5, his first loss of the season.

In his first appearance at the Erste Bank Open since his 2007 title win, Novak Djokovic passed an early test to defeat countryman Filip Krajinović. He went 3-5 down in the first set and also conceded a set point in the tiebreaker beating him 7–6^(8–6), 6–3 in straight sets. Djokovic faced four set points in his second-round clash against Borna Ćorić, but the top seed defeated the Croatian to reach the quarter-finals.[26]

Djokovic then suffered his heaviest defeat ever in a three-set ATP Tour match, losing 6–2 6–1 to 42nd-ranked lucky loser Lorenzo Sonego in a strangely lacklustre quarter-final performance at the Erste Bank Open. It was only Djokovic's second loss of the year, and the first outside of a Grand Slam tournament. People close to him later revealed that he was in an incredibly bad mood after celebrated Serbian-Montenegrin bishop Amfilohije Radovic passed away few hours before the match.[27]

In the ATP Finals, Djokovic lost to Daniil Medvedev in straight sets but defeated Alexander Zverev and Diego Schwartzman in straight sets to qualify for the semifinals. He then lost his semifinal match to Dominic Thiem in three sets, ending his season.[28]

Novak Djokovic has a 41–5 (89.1%) ATP match win–loss record in the 2020 season. His record against players who were part of the ATP rankings Top Ten at the time of their meetings is 10–3 (76.9%). Bold indicates player was ranked top 10 at the time of at least one meeting. The following list is ordered by number of wins:

* Statistics correct as of 21 November 2020.

• Bold font denotes tournament win

Figures in United States dollars (USD) unless noted.

• source：2020 Singles Activity
• source：2020 Doubles Activity