SYDNEY, January 19. /TASS/. Serbian tennis legend Novak Djokovic kicked off the opening round of this year’s first Grand Slam series tournament, the 2026 Australian Open on Monday by defeating Spain’s Pedro Martinez, sealing his 100th career win at the tournament in Melbourne.

The 4th-seeded Djokovic had no trouble dispatching the unseeded Martinez, with a final score of 6-3; 6-2; 6-2.

"What can I say? I like the sound of it <…> Centurion is pretty nice," the official ATP website quoted Djokovic as saying after the match against Martinez. "It’s nice to be a centurion in these numbers. History making is a great motivation, particularly in the last five, 10 years of my career. Once I got myself in a position to create history, I was even more inspired to play the best tennis."

"I was very fortunate early on to encounter some people that taught me and guided me to play the long shot with my career: not to burn out too quickly, and try to have the longest career possible. I’m blessed to still be playing at this level," he added.

In the next round, the Serbian tennis star will play against Italy’s Francesco Maestrelli, who earlier in the day battled to victory against Frenchman Terence Atmane - 6-4; 3-6; 6-7 (4-7); 6-1; 6-1.

Djokovic, 38, currently ranked 4th in the ATP (the Association of Tennis Professionals) Rankings, owns 101 career ATP titles. These include his record 24 Grand Slam wins. Djokovic is also the 2024 Olympic champion in addition to his bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics and winning the 2010 Davis Cup.

The Serbian player holds the record for most consecutive weeks as the ATP’s number one player in the world at 428 weeks in a row.

The winningest player in Australian Open history is Switzerland’s Roger Federer with 102 match victories.

The 2026 Australian Open tournament is being played on hard courts at Melbourne Park between January 18 and February 1 and has a purse of some $75 million in prize money up for grabs. The season’s first Grand Slam, this year marks the 114th edition of the tournament. Italy’s Jannik Sinner and American Madison Keys are the reigning Australian Open champions in men’s and women’s singles, respectively.