LONDON – Novak Djokovic won his third Wimbledon championship, his ninth Grand Slam tournament in his career. For the first time since 2007, a champion won two years in a row.
Roger Federer, who attempted to win an historic eighth Wimbledon title, started off strong, but his 35 unforced errors killed his play in the end. Djokovic capitalized on these errors and protected his serve no matter how hard Federer fought back. Federer actually broke his serve to go up a break, but Djokovic fired back to get back on serve.
It ended on tiebreak, where Djokovic rolled all over the former champion to take tiebreak 7-1 and the set.
Djokovic fought off two breakpoints in the fifth game of the second set to stay on serve. Then, in the tenth game on Federer’s serve, Djokovic went up break and set point, but the Swiss was not out of steam quite yet! With two straight points he stayed on serve. He went up a break point in the next game, but Djokovic forced the deuce.
Advantage Djokovic!
Nope. Federer said no way.
Another advantage for the Serb! Federer quickly swiped it away. But Federer just could not score two points in a row. Djokovic went up an advantage and took the game on the next point. Federer quickly tied it up to force a tiebreak.
Federer enjoyed a minibreak, but Djokovic did it right back. Then it went the way of the first tiebreak: 4-3, 5-3, 6-3. But, all of a sudden, a fire lit under Federer and he scored three points in a row to make it 6-6. Federer managed to erase four set points going back to the tenth game.
Djokovic stayed with him though and went up three more set points until Federer finally found a way to score two points in a row and win the second set in 65 minutes.
Djokovic did not allow that second set to rattle his nerves or drive him off his game. He came roaring back and actually broke Federer in the third game after he defended his serve in the second game. He faced the crowd and screamed. Both men served well the rest of the set. In fact, Federer did not drop any points in the rest of the game, but neither did Djokovic, which means no break for Federer and the Serb captured the much needed third set:
But, again, I managed to sustain that pressure that he put on my service games, especially in the first set.
Second set tiebreak, yeah, it was frustrating obviously not to be able to close it out. Very, very frustrated on the changeover because I knew that I cannot let this happen against Roger in the finals of Wimbledon because this might be my last chance in the match.
But, again, managed to regroup, had a little bit more time, especially in the rain delay. That’s where I got my thoughts together and went back to the basics and played a really, really good match after that.
Federer ran out of steam as Djokovic continued to fully dominate the match. He broke Federer in the fifth game. Federer fought off two break points in the seventh game, but that was the last of him. Djokovic broke him in the final game to take his third Wimbledon championship.
The spectators cheered loudly for Federer and the English press did not show positive feelings towards Djovokovic the past two weeks. Djokovic celebrated wildly after the game, but he told the press it was not because he proved people wrong.
“I just proved to myself that I can do it again,” he said. “I think that’s the most. Obviously I’m an emotional guy. I go through tough moments in the match like he [Federer] does, like anybody does really. It’s no different.”
Unfortunately, he did not win the French Open. But no doubt Djokovic will be heavily favored to win the US Open, the last Grand Slam of the season. If he wins, he will win three out of four Grand Slams for the calendar year.
Today is also his one year anniversary with his beautiful wife. At the press conference he encouraged players to get married and have a few kids.
“Whether I’m winning or losing, she’s always there,” he exclaimed with a huge smile on his face. “Family’s always there. When I go back home, I’m not a tennis player anymore. I’m a father and a husband. That’s a kind of balance that I think allows me to play this well.”
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