He stumbled on the last step against Carlos Alcaraz at the end of a daunting four-set final, narrowly missing his 25th Grand Slam title.
But make no mistake: the 2026 Australian Open will be set in stone for Novak Djokovic.
At 38, the Serb took advantage of this fortnight to completely rewrite the history books. Here are the 5 major records he broke.
1. The absolute King of Melbourne (104 victories)
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By reaching the final, Djokovic overtook Roger Federer to become the player (men and women combined) who has won the most matches at the Australian Open.
He is also the only player in history to have more than 100 victories in three different major tournaments (Australia, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon).
| Rang | Player | AO Victories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Novak Djokovic 🇷🇸 | 104 |
| 2 | Roger Federer 🇨🇠| 102 |
| 3 | Serena Williams 🇺🇸 | 92 |
| 4 | Rafael Nadal 🇪🇸 | 77 |
| 5 | Margaret Court 🇦🇺 | 60 |
2. The wall of 400 victories broken
It’s a number that makes you dizzy. Djokovic already held the record for Grand Slam victories, but he crossed a legendary symbolic threshold.
He is the first to exceed 400 major successes.
(Far ahead of Federer at 369 and S. Williams at 367)
3. The oldest finalist of the Open era
At 38, the Serb is pushing the limits of biology. He became the oldest finalist in the history of the Australian Open (Open Era), erasing from the shelves the legendary Ken Rosewall, who reached the final in 1972 at the age of 37.
4. A 38th major final
He already held the record with 37 finals, but he widened the gap further.
With this 38th final, he is sailing alone into the stratosphere. Chris Evert, second in this historic ranking, is relegated to 34 finals.
5. Extreme longevity
It was the 7th time that Djokovic reached a Grand Slam final after celebrating his 35th birthday.
A new record in the Open era, once again surpassing Ken Rosewall (6 times). For comparison, Federer has only done it 4 times.