Djokovic's first Challenger title: 20 years on…

A 17-year-old Serbian had just advanced through qualifying at the 2004 Budapest Challenger. Unknown to many at the time, the teen had played just one ATP Challenger Tour event — as a wild card on home soil — prior to that week in May.

What the outing in Hungary entailed was the genesis of a record-breaking career.

Novak Djokovic, then World No. 515 in the PIF ATP Rankings was new to the Challenger circuit, but he would not stay there long. This week marks 20 years since the World No. 1 lifted his maiden trophy at ATP Challenger level.

Inexperienced and wet behind the ears, this was the first glimpse of Djokovic before he was competing in the biggest stadiums in the world. This was not the month of May as Djokovic knows it today, typically chasing titles in cities such as Rome and Paris. Instead, in 2004, Djokovic had his eyes set on a different milestone in his young career: cracking the Top 500.

Djokovic achieved that feat when he defeated former World No. 49 Daniele Bracciali in the Budapest Challenger final. It was later that year, in Bucharest, where Djokovic earned his first ATP Tour main draw win. On Wednesday, the seven-time Nitto ATP Finals titlist celebrated his 1,100th tour-level match win in Geneva.

This is what the ATP Challenger Tour prides itself in, being the launchpad of professional tennis and offering fans a chance to see world-class players before they become household names… and in this case, a 98-time tour-level titlist.

Throughout his storied career, Djokovic has enjoyed dominance on all three surfaces. In 2004, Djokovic even won a Challenger title on carpet, in Aachen, Germany. Again qualifying for the main draw, Djokovic met an opponent in the first round who would become a familiar foe: Stan Wawrinka. The Swiss has since beaten the Belgrade native in two major finals [Though Djokovic leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 21-6].

Djokovic played just a total of 11 Challenger tournaments, with his last appearance being a title run at the 2005 Sanremo Challenger, where he won his third trophy at that level, two weeks before he first qualified for Roland Garros and scored his first major main-draw victory.

Now, the 37-year-old will soon begin his hunt for a fourth title on the Parisian clay and a 25th major crown overall. But even the man who has spent more than eight years’ worth atop the PIF ATP Rankings began on the ATP Challenger Tour.