Wimbledon crown caps dream year for Djokovic
Novak Djokovic claims his first Wimbledon title, a day before he is due to be officially named world number one.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic outplayed Rafa Nadal to claim his first Wimbledon title and seal a year in which he has dominated tennis.
The second seed will officially become the world number one on Monday, when he will swap places with the Spaniard in the world rankings.
Djokovic’s emphatic 6-4 6-1 1-6 6-3 victory comes after a year that saw him collect titles in Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, Belgrade, Madrid and Rome.
A winning streak of 41 straight victories only came to an end last month when Roger Federer handed his only defeat of the season in the semi-finals of the French Open.
He beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga – the man who knocked Roger Federer out of the tournament – last week to make it to his first Wimbledon final.
But despite Djokovic’s stunning form this season, he was not the favourite ahead of Sunday’s men’s final.
Nadal had not been beaten at Wimbledon since a five-set loss to Federer in the final of 2007, and he had beaten Djokovic five times out of five in grand slams.
The first set went with serve until Djokovic broke Nadal in the tenth game. He seemed at the height of his powers in the second, breaking Nadal repeatedly to take the set in just 33 minutes.
Nadal launched a comeback in the third set, with rare unforced errors from Djokovic handing him a first break in the second game.
But Djokovic regained his composure to break for a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Nadal broke back quickly but Djokovic struck again in the eighth game and he served out for victory.
He picked up a blade of SW19 grass and ate it before throwing his racquets into the crowd.
Despite microphone problems, Nadal eventually managed to say: “Now I can say well done to Nole (Djokovic). I tried my best but today one player played better than me.”
Djokovic said: “It’s really difficult to describe except it’s the best and most special day of my life. I think I’m still sleeping. I played probably my best match on grass ever.”