Novak Djokovic trails only Roger Federer, passes Chris Evert in Grand Slam quarterfinals appearances

Novak Djokovic trails only Roger Federer but passes Chris Evert in a huge Grand Slam milestone. The Serb is set to play in the 55th Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career at the 2023 French Open, passing the legendary Christ Evert as far as that milestone is concerned.

Djokovic didn't drop a set on his way to the quarterfinals of the 2023 French Open, defeating Aleksandar Kovacevic, Marton Fucsovics, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and Juan Pablo Varillas in the process.

By qualifying for the quarterfinals, he already passed Rafael Nadal with the most final eight appearances at Roland Garros with 17. He has also passed Christ Evert in that regard, men's and women's circuits included.

The former World No. 1 has made 13 quarterfinal appearances at the Australian Open, 17 at Roland Garros, 13 at Wimbledon, and 12 at the US Open.

The only player in front of him right now is the retired Roger Federer, with 58. Serena Williams is tied with Evert with 54, and Martina Navratilova completes the top 5 with 53.

The Serb will try to reach his 12th Roland Garros semifinal when he takes on Karen Khachanov, whom he has beaten in eight of their nine head-to-head matches.

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Novak Djokovic says learning foreign languages is a sign of respect

Novak Djokovic at the 2023 French Open

Novak Djokovic has for a long time been recognized as one of the biggest polyglots in the world of tennis. During the 2023 French Open, he was questioned about learning French.

In the first week of the tournament, he joked about seeking a professor to better his knowledge of French, which he then explained during a post-match press conference, explaining that shouting "Allez" in a match is probably out of the question.

"I don't think you'll hear 'Allez,' because I normally kind of encourage myself in my own language, as I have done throughout my career. I think it's a question of respect. It's a matter of respect when you are in a particular country to try to speak the language of that country," Novak Djokovic said.

"I think it actually, you know, allows you also to get closer to the people in a way for people to really respect you more as well. It's kind of mutual respect. That's how I see it," he added.

The 36-year-old from Belgrade says that learning different languages at a young age helped him develop an affection for them. He now knows at least 11 different languages.

"I was always attracted to languages from a very young age, and because I was training in Germany, had German, English in school, and then learned Italian pretty quickly. French, decent Spanish, as well," the Serb continued.

"So I think the more languages that you speak, I guess the more, yeah, respect you're going to get, the more value you will get from the relationships with people, just from your experience in a given country," Djokovic concluded.