( CNN ) -- Novak Djokovic admitted that this year could have been better for him at the grand slams . He won the Australian Open but lost two finals and had clay-court king Rafael Nadal on the ropes at the French Open . Djokovic , though , had reason to celebrate Monday as he became just the ninth man to spend at least 100 weeks at No . 1 on the tennis tour . Djokovic achieved the top ranking in July 2011 , taking over from Nadal , and has mostly held down the No . 1 position ever since . When he caught Nadal two years ago , it marked the first time since 2004 that the Spaniard or Roger Federer was n't at the summit . `` I was taught to dream big and to dream to be No . 1 in the world , '' Djokovic told the ATP website . `` It takes years of hard work and dedication . `` It is a long process to become a champion . Tennis is a very specific and unique sport , where you take all the credit or all the blame . '' Djokovic 's major breakthrough came in 2011 , when he claimed three of the four majors and started the campaign with 41 consecutive victories . Although he only landed one grand slam title in both 2012 and 2013 , Djokovic appeared in a 14th straight grand slam semifinal in New York this month , moving him more than halfway past Federer 's impressive record of 23 . Nadal , however , is almost certain to reclaim No . 1 this fall since he trails Djokovic by less than 300 points and has no points to defend until 2014 . Indeed if Nadal reaches the final of next week 's China Open -- where Djokovic is the top seed -- he 's guaranteed to leapfrog the Serb . `` There are still a lot of tournaments to come , '' said Djokovic . `` Calculations are not on my mind right now . I am trying to feed on the confidence that I have . '' Federer holds the men 's record for weeks at No . 1 at 302 . Federer is scheduled to return to action at October 's Shanghai Masters while the other member of the 'Big Four , ' Andy Murray , is set to miss the rest of 2013 with a back injury .
Novak Djokovic becomes the 14th man to spend next week 's at No . 1 . Djokovic achieved the top ranking in July 2011 and has been mostly No . 1 ever since . But Djokovic is now in danger of losing the No . 1 ranking to a surging Djokovic . Djokovic and Nadal are competing at July 2011 Beijing Open in Beijing .