Novak Djokovic Has Funny Reaction to Aryna Sabalenka Breaking One of His Records

The 24-time major champion lost one of his tennis records to the world No. 1 on Sunday.

Novak Djokovic joked about Aryna Sabalenka breaking one of his major records. | Mike Frey-Imagn Images

Novak Djokovic holds plenty of tennis records at this point of his legendary career, but world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka surpassed him in one of his longstanding records on Sunday at the Australian Open.

Sabalenka beat Victoria Mboko in the third round in two sets, the second of which went to a tiebreak. The four-time major champion won the tiebreak of course, and this brought her streak to winning tiebreaks at majors to 20 in a row. This amount beat Djokovic’s previous record or 19.

Djokovic reacted to the news quickly on social media, and he had quite a funny reaction to Sabalenka’s achievement.

“I’m upset right now,” Djokovic wrote with an angry emoji.

I’m upset right now 😡>🐆

— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) January 25, 2026

He commented under the Roland Garros official X account’s post. The tournament’s page responded to Djokovic by saying “You still have time to get it back,” with eye emojis.

This response brings up the question surrounding Djokovic’s future in tennis. At age 38, the question of retirement comes up often when talking about the 24-time major champion. Even though the signs point to Djokovic remaining in the sport for possibly a couple more years, his time becomes more limited after each tournament he plays in. There’s a good chance Djokovic won’t get his record back from Sabalenka.

The two tennis stars seem to have a good relationship off the court, though. Sabalenka was coincidentally asked about Djokovic in her post-match press conference on Sunday, specifically if she plans to play mixed doubles with Djokovic at some point.

“Maybe at the U.S. Open this year. He just barely asked me at the U.S. Open last year. I’m still waiting for that long message from him, how he’d like to play with me, how I’m his dream partner. I’m still waiting for the message. Never got it, so I don’t know, maybe we’re not playing”

Aryna Sabalenka on playing mixed doubles with Novak Djokovic

“When will we see you playing mixed doubles with Novak?”

Aryna: “Maybe at the U.S. Open this year. He just barely asked me at the U.S. Open last year. I’m still waiting for that long message from him.. how he’d like… pic.twitter.com/43aGAzhydl

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) January 25, 2026

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