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Djokovic won a record-extending 10th Australian
Open title last month to draw level with his great rival Rafa
Nadal on 22 Grand Slam victories and leapfrog Carlos Alcaraz
into top spot in the ATP rankings.
He already holds the record for the most weeks as the men's
number one after surpassing Roger Federer's mark of 310 weeks in
March 2021 and began his 377th week at the top on Monday to go
level with 22-times major champion Graf.
Russian world number five Andrey Rublev said Djokovic had shown
that anything is possible.
"And at the age of 35, he still can be the best player in the
world and break records," Rublev, 25, who lost to Djokovic in
the Australian Open quarter-finals, told reporters in Doha.
"If you do the things right, you can perform at the highest
level ... age doesn't matter. That's what it means to me."
Former world number two Alexander Zverev said Djokovic had shown
how consistent he can be by dominating his rivals in the last
decade.
However, Zverev said that watching Graf being overtaken would be
bittersweet for him.
"He's surpassing Steffi, so as a German, obviously I always
loved her having that record. But credit to Novak, I think that
shows how great he is," the 25-year-old Zverev said.
"I'm sure that he's going to break a few more records. I'm not
sure there are many left, but the ones that are left, maybe he
will."
Djokovic returns to action in Dubai later this month.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani
Sarkar)
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