Novak Djokovic won his third Wimbledon title by taming Roger Federer in four hard-hitting sets.
The
Swiss superstar was bidding to become the oldest male winner in history
by claiming his eighth victory here. And he saved seven set points in a
thrilling second set – including six in the tiebreak – to get back into
the match.
But the world No 2 was never able to match the
sustained brilliance of his semi-final win over Andy Murray. And the
world No 1 showed he is the best athlete in tennis by repelling the
Federer serve to triumph 7-6 6-7 6-4 6-3 in two hours and 56 minutes.
The
Serb, who becomes the first man to retain the singles title here since
Federer in 2007, has now matched the hat-trick of victories here
achieved by his coach Boris Becker. He also becomes the fifth man in
history to claim nine Grand Slam titles after Bjorn Borg, Rafa Nadal,
Federer and Pete Sampras – and aged 28 years and 51 days, he is the
oldest.
Djokovic commands respect for his superb all-court game but he is not
loved like Federer. The Centre Court clearly wanted the 33-year-old
father-of-four to win his first Major title since beating Murray here in
the 2012 final. And he gave his all although on his performances this
week, his 26 Grand Slam final won't be his last.
In the first
set, Federer broke to go 4-2 up and then had two set points at 6-5
before the Serb produced two service winners and then steamrollered his
way through the tiebreak.
The Swiss maestro saved a point to go two sets down at 4-5 before taking an epic tiebreak 12-10.
But
the world No 1 proved his mental strength by then coming out in the
third set and making an early break before a 20-minute rain break at
3-2. He then served out the third set and broke Federer – who had only
dropped his serve once in the whole tournament before today – twice more
in the fourth set to seal the title.
