Djokovic's 30th birthday means he joins Murray, Wawrinka, Nadal and Federer at milestone

Djokovic – ranked two in the world - reaches the milestone age just one week after world number one Andy Murray also turned 30.

Meanwhile, Stan Wawrinka (32), Rafael Nadal (30) and Roger Federer (35) complete the oldest top five since records began in 1973.

Since Roger Federer’s first Grand Slam victory in 2003 (Wimbledon), this fearsome five have picked up 50 of the 55 GS titles on offer.

Added to this, Marin Cilic (US Open 2014) and Juan Martin del Potro (US Open 2009) are the only current players outside of this top five to have sampled GS victory in the past decade.

With Federer already winning the Australian Open, 2017 could also prove to be first year since 1969 that a player aged 30 or over has won each Grand Slam title.

To prevent this, it would either mean Cilic or Del Potro picking up their second GS, or a ‘Next-Gen’ player finally coming to the fore.

Dominic Thiem has proved himself to be a worthy contender for the French Open later this month, while Milos Raonic has impressed at recent Wimbledon’s – having been runner-up to Murray last year.

However, it would go some to prevent one of the top five taking the remaining three Grand Slam trophies this year – Nadal remains odds-on favourite for the French, while Murray is fancied at SW19 and the US despite his struggles this season, as too is Djokovic according to the bookies - but both will certainly be up against it.

And even at 32, it would be folly to rule out Wawrinka, who has shown an unnerving ability to raise his game when it matters – a trait which has seen him to glory at each GS bar Wimbledon.

Federer meanwhile, has skipped clay to focus on Wimbledon – it doesn’t quite feel like a final tilt, but just like he did Down Under, the Swiss will be primed for glory in London after a near three-month absence.

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