Novak Djokovic equals Ivan Lendl ATP Finals stat

Novak Djokovic has drawn level with Ivan Lendl on an impressive career stat by defeating Casper Ruud in Turin.

The world number one is making his 14th event appearance at the ATP Finals this week, where he took on the Norwegian debutant in his opening group match.

While Ruud put up strong resistance in the opening set, Djokovic held the momentum from winning it in a tiebreak to seal the match 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 in Turin.

As a result, Djokovic now has 39 career wins at the tour Finals. That brings him joint-second of all-time with fellow five-time champion Lendl.

The eight-time Slam champion accumulated his 39 wins across 12 consecutive event appearances from 1980 to 1991. Lendl won the title in 1981, 1982, 1985, 1986 and 1987.

Out ahead of Djokovic and Lendl, Roger Federer sits first with 20 more career wins at 59. The Swiss has compiled those wins across 17 event appearances.

Federer won the title six times, back-to-back in 2003-4, 2006-7 and 2010-11.

Should Djokovic win the title in Turin without defeat, his tally would come to 43 match wins, 16 shy of Federer.

Therefore, it will take the Serb a minimum of four more ATP Finals appearances beyond 2021 for Djokovic to catch his fellow 20-time Slam champion in terms of match wins.

However, claiming the crown in Turin this year would bring Djokovic alongside Federer on a record six tour Finals titles.

Looking at his head-to-head record with the 2021 field, the odds are in favour of the Serb to do just that.

He has a winning record against six of the seven other opponents, Andrey Rublev being the exception. He has never played the world number five before.

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