LONDON: Novak Djokovic has accomplished so much in his career — and, indeed, already this year.

He owns 12 Grand Slam singles titles, a total eclipsed by only three men in the long history of tennis.

He has won four consecutive major tournaments, something only two other men ever did.

He leads the tour in wins (44-3 record) and titles (six) in 2016.

Now, with Wimbledon starting Monday, there is something more for Djokovic to pursue, something never achieved by a man and only once by a woman: a Golden Slam, consisting of winning all four major singles titles, plus an Olympic singles gold medal, in one season.

As it is, Djokovic is halfway to a true Grand Slam, collecting championships on the hard courts of the Australian Open in January, then the red clay of the French Open earlier this month.

Among men, only Don Budge in 1938, and Rod Laver in 1962 and 1969, managed to win all four Grand Slam tournaments within a calendar year (none of those were Summer Games years and, anyway, tennis was not part of the Olympics in those days).

When he won his first French Open title this month to become the first man since Jim Courier in 1992 to even get halfway to a calendar-year Grand Slam, Djokovic certainly did not try to play down the possibility of equalling Laver’s achievement.

“Well, I don’t want to sound arrogant,” Djokovic said after extending his Grand Slam winning streak to 28 matches, “but I really think everything is achievable in life.”

Why shouldn’t he feel that way? At 29, he is probably at his peak, as close to unbeatable as there is these days, possessing the best return of serve in the game, an unparalleled ability to contort his body and track down opponents’ apparent winners while going from defence to offence in a blink, and an improving serve.

And from match to match, surface to surface, Djokovic rarely wavers.

In between practice and this week’s rain, he posed for ‘selfies’ on the London underground, happily opting for public transport despite becoming the first man to pass the $100 million prize money mark at Roland Garros.

“I’m trying to cherish these moments. Whether or not I can reach a calendar slam, that’s still a possibility.”

Djokovic has participated in the past six Grand Slam finals, a run surpassed only by Roger Federer in the Open era.

Djokovic also is gaining on another, more revered, mark: Federer’s 17 Grand Slam titles. Next on the all-time list are Rafael Nadal and Pete Sampras, with 14 apiece.

Nadal is missing from this year’s Wimbledon, nursing a wrist injury, while seven-time All England Club champion Federer is without a major in four years and a shadow of the player he once was.

This is the first time since 2000 that Federer heads to the All England Club without having won any ATP title all season.

At this point, the top-ranked Djokovic’s most serious challenger has to be No 2 Andy Murray, the man he beat in the finals at both the Australian Open and French Open this year.

Murray has reached 10 Grand Slam finals, winning only two, but both victories did come against Djokovic.

Murray also has reunited with Ivan Lendl, his coach when he won an Olympic gold medal (at the All England Club) and the US Open in 2012, and Wimbledon a year later.

With Boris Becker plotting for Djokovic and now Richard Krajicek fine-tuning Stan Wawrinka’s grasscourt game, the battle of the super-coaches looks like being as compelling as the on-court action.

Wawrinka, seeded four at Wimbledon, has never been past the quarter-finals at the All England Club, but has proved previously that he can beat Djokovic — as has Japan’s Kei Nishikori who will be seeded five.

Still, Djokovic has the momentum and ability to take aim at a truly historic season, including the chance to win his first Olympic gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Games in August.

Steffi Graf collected the only Golden Slam in 1988, and the world saw in 2015 just how much pressure and attention Serena Williams dealt with as she came within two match wins of the first calendar-year Grand Slam since then.

Serena hasn’t won a major since getting her fourth in a row at Wimbledon last year to raise her career count to 21, one short of Graf’s Open-era record.

That Wimbledon final victory over Garbine Muguruza meant Serena had won all three of the year’s major titles, putting her within touching distance of becoming the first woman to secure a calendar Grand Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988.

But her historic bid came to stunning end in the US Open semi-finals when she was beaten by 300-1 outsider Roberta Vinci.

There is a growing sense the emotional scars from the US Open haven’t fully healed for Serena and Germany’s Angelique Kerber took advantage to shock her in Melbourne in January, while Spain’s Muguruza avenged her Wimbledon loss by beating Serena in Paris earlier this month.

With Maria Sharapova absent as she appeals against a two-year ban for doping, the main challengers for Serena’s crown should be second ranked Muguruza, former Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska and the likes of Kerber and two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova.

On her day Kvitova can be unplayable, especially on grass, although the Czech, winner in 2011 and 2014, is still prone to puzzling off-days and she played down her chances after losing to Johanna Konta at Eastbourne.

“I’m not personally seeing chances, unfortunately. I will be very happy if I can show up in the second week,” Kvitova, who will be seeded 10th, said.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2016