By James Waterson Photo Credit: Andy Kentla
He started the season as the world’s third best player, and since then he’s won the Australian Open, Wimbledon, the US Open and five ATP Masters Series titles, as well as the Dubai Duty
Free Championships.
Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal in six of those finals, which lead to him taking the No. 1 spot from the Spaniard in July.
All of his success this year has earned him $10,609,318 of prize money, an ATP record.
Ironically, Nadal set the previous record in 2010 when he earned $10,171,998, and the top mark before that was set by Roger Federer in 2007, when he received $10,130,620.
Yet Djokovic’s record will be hard to match because he’s already exceeded Nadal and Federer’s record while playing fewer tournaments. The Serb has played 12 tournaments, compared to Nadal’s 17 and Federer’s 16.
By winning the US Open, Djokovic was also the first player since Jim Courier in 1992 to win their debut Grand Slam tournament as World No. 1. He is also the sixth man in the Open Era to win at least three Grand Slams in one year.
He also received $1.8 million for winning the final Grand Slam tournament of the year, plus a $500,000 bonus for finishing second in the US Open Series.