In 2017 Djokovic began his partnership with Lacoste amidst a slump. He failed to defend any of slams from his historic 2015-16 non-calendar slam run, and had been plagued by an elbow injury for over a year. The first year of the Lacoste era was a disappointing one, as Djokovic spent the second half of 2017 off the tour, and struggled to find his form again in the first half of 2018
During his absence, Federer and Nadal had turned back the clock and split the four slams equally in 2017, and had each taken a slam in 2018 by the time Wimbledon rolled around. Djokovic was becoming the forgotten man, but managed beat Rafael Nadal in a five set epic in the semi-finals before defeating South African Kevin Anderson to pick up his first slam in over two years. The Serb was well and truly back, and won the US Open later that year to finish as the year end #1
In 2021, Djokovic equalled the record of Federer and Nadal by winning his 20th Grand Slam at Wimbledon, just a month after beating Nadal in the semi-finals of the French Open en route to his second title at Roland Garros. He was on course to complete the Golden Slam- all four Slams and the Olympics in the same year- but was defeated in three sets by Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals of the Olympics, and defeated in straight sets by Russian Daniil Medvedev in the finals of the US Open.
