Novak Djokovic named ‘Champion of Champions’ ahead of Max Verstappen, Noah Lyles, Siya Kolisi

Shahida Jacobs 28 Dec 2023 7:03 AM

Novak Djokovic with year-end No 1 celebrations

Novak Djokovic of Serbia is awarded the year-end No 1 trophy

Novak Djokovic has been awarded the prestigious L’Équipe Men’s ‘Champion of Champions’ crown for the 2023 sporting year following his phenomenal tennis season.

The 24-time Grand Slam winner was the clear winner with 876 points with French swimmer Léon Marchand second with 361 points, Dutch Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen third (348 points), American sprinter Noah Lyles fourth (315 points) and South African rugby World Cup-winning captain Siya Kolisi fifth (215).

It is the second time that Djokovic has been recognised for his achievements by the French publication with his previous award coming in 2021.

The 2023 tennis year was another record-breaking one for Djokovic as he won three Grand Slams – the Australian Open, French Open and US Open – to surpass Rafael Nadal in terms of most majors as he now sits on 24 to Nadal’s 22 and Roger Federer’s 20.

Djokovic, who won seven titles this year, also finished as the year-end No 1 in the ATP Rankings for a record-extending eighth time while he also became the first player – man or woman – to spend 400 weeks at No 1 in the rankings.

It was the fourth time in his career that Djokovic won three Grand Slams in a calendar year and the third time after 2016 and 2021 that he reached the final of all four majors as he also finished runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon.

While some pundits felt it was Djokovic’s best-ever season, the Serbian wouldn’t go as far as that, saying: “One of the best years. I wouldn’t say the best, but one of the best.

“I mean, the fact that I’ve won three out of four Slams and played a final in the fourth and it’s still not the best year of my life, it’s quite nice to have that kind of situation.

“It’s definitely one of the best seasons. I had a couple of years, I think three times, that I won three out of four Slams in a season…in those years, I won more matches. I mean, I played more tournaments. I was really feeling very dominant on the tour.

“It’s quite different circumstances this year comparing to all the other years because I played, what, 10, 11 tournaments this year.”