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Novak Djokovic had to play the tennis of his life to beat a gallant Roger Federer overnight to capture a second Wimbledon singles crown and a seventh Grand Slam.
The scoreline said it all – 6-7 6-4 7-6 5-7 6-4 in a tick under four hours of enthralling tennis, with the icing on the cake for the Serb being regaining his world number one ranking.
It was an epic in the truest sense of the word.
Djokovic won because he hung in tough when Federer was on song, Federer lost because his forehand deserted him when he needed it most.
The match stats proved there was hardly a struck match between them
Aces – Federer 29-13.
Double faults – Federer 5-3.
Winners – Federer 75-58.
Unforced errors – Federer 29-27.
Points won – Djokovic 186-180.
Where Federer managed to stay in contact for so long against a constant barrage of Djokovic’s magnificent passing shots, he also had an uncanny ability to dodge bullets, saving 11 break points, while Djokovic saved four.
But that forehand… The Fed Express will have nightmares over the number of missed opportunities that had been automatic in the six lead-up matches.
And to magnify the problem, Djokovic kept hitting the sidelines off either wing, and the baseline with regularity. His depth was a telling factor.
By comparison, Federer played far too many half-court shots that begged Djokovic to punish them severely. And he did.
But nothing could be taken away from the tension and the tradition of a superb final at the home of tennis, even though Federer had to draw on every morsel of his vast experience just to compete.
No better example than the fourth set, with Djokovic leading two sets to one, and 5-2.
Federer broke back, and held serve. but at 5-4 Djokovic held a match point.
Federer served what he thought was an ace, but it was called out. Federer’s track record with Hawkeye is dreadful, but this time he was right, and went on to win the fourth, and set up the decider.
The packed centre court, the packed Henman Hill outside, and the millions of television watchers around the world never wanted this epic to stop.
The right man won, but the sport is blessed to have two class acts on duty where it all counts.
Their courtside interviews were right off the top shelf, with the required humour.
Federer was surprised he was able to stay on court for so long – “After the third set I didn’t expect to be around much longer”
Djokvic, in heaping the highest praise possible on his beaten opponent thanked him for letting him win.
Great stuff all round.
Sitting in the Channel 7 commentary box was three-time Wimbledon singles champion John Newcombe.
In 1967 when he won the first it was the last Wimbledon for amateurs – Newcombe won a 50 pound sterling mail order.
In 1970 he won 3,000 pounds, in 1971 it was bumped up to 3,750 pounts.
Last night Djokovic banked 1.76 million pounds, Federer 880,000 pounds.
Another early Newk story was from his headmaster at Shore – Jika Travers.
Newk was constantly spending time improving his tennis, and his schoolwork suffered.
Travers called the tennis-mad kid into his study, and sent him on his way with the quote of Newk’s life – “Concentrate on your studies son, you’ll never make any money out of tennis”.
That was true to a point compared to today, but it was a lot of money in its day.
There was no secret in the fact Newk had far more enjoyment out of tennis than homework.
And there was no secret in the fact, he gave Australians plenty of enjoyment on his way to winning seven Slam singles, and 17 Slam doubles.