By Chris Oddo | Sunday February 21, 2016
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic will take to the court for the first time since winning his 11th Grand Slam title in Australia at this week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, and if he picks up where he left off he’ll make history in several ways.
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The four-time champion is bidding to reach his 18th consecutive ATP final, which would move him past Roger Federer and tie him with Ivan Lendl for most all-time. Djokovic, who has won 13 of those consecutive 17 finals, is also two matches shy of becoming the 12th ATP player to reach the 700-win mark. He would be the third active player to hit the mark, joining Federer (1067) and Rafael Nadal (775).
The Serb owns a 34-5 lifetime record in Dubai, but has not won the title since 2013. He will open his title bid on Monday when he faces veteran Tommy Robredo in the first round. Though Djokovic holds the 6-2 lifetime edge over the Spaniard, he actually lost their last battle in Cincinnati in 2014.
If the seeds hold, Djokovic would face 6th-seeded Feliciano Lopez in the quarterfinals and either 4th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut or 5th-seeded Viktor Troicki in the semis.
Second-seeded Stan Wawrinka, making his first Dubai appearance, will open against Sergiy Stakhovsky. The Ukrainian upset Wawrinka last week at Marseille.
If the seeds hold, Wawrinka would face 8th-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber in the quarterfinals and third-seeded Tomas Berdych in the semifinals.
In a pair of enticing first-round matchup, this week’s Marseille champion Nick Kyrgios will face 7th-seeded Martin Klizan, while Borna Coric, a semifinalist in Dubai last year, will face Jiri Vesely.