The first American man to beat Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open never cracked the Top 50

Paul Goldstein handed Novak Djokovic his second Australian Open defeat

Djokovic didn’t get off to the best start at the Australian Open, losing his first match to Marat Safin in 2005.

A year later, Paul Goldstein ended his run again in the opening round. The American won in four sets, but their careers went down very different paths after that match.

While Djokovic has gone on to break records and win multiple Grand Slams, Goldstein never made it into the top 50 of the ATP rankings.

The highest he ever reached was No. 58 in April 2006, and he never advanced beyond the third round of a Grand Slam.

List of players who have deafeated Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open

Paul Goldstein is in select company, having claimed a win over Djokovic early in the season’s first Grand Slam.

He joins a list that includes Safin, Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Jannik Sinner – all players who have reached world number one.

Hyeong Chung and Denis Istomin are two of the more unexpected names on the list, having beaten Djokovic in 2017 and 2018 during what was still a strong period for him.

More recently, Djokovic has lost to Sinner and Alexander Zverev, with Zverev’s win coming in the semi-finals after Djokovic had already knocked out Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals.