Opinion
And then there were two.
The Wimbledon 2021 will reach its climax when Novak Djokovic and Matteo Berrettini face off in the men’s singles final this evening (AEST) with tennis immortality at the mercy of the Serb.
Having already won the Australian and French Opens earlier in the year, Djokovic will have the chance to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win the first three Majors of the year, and the first since Rafael Nadal in 2010 to win Majors on three different surfaces in the same year.
Also at stake is the chance to keep alive a calendar Super Slam, which entails winning the four Majors, the Olympic Gold Medal in singles and the season-ending ATP Finals.
A win tonight will also see him join Nadal and Roger Federer on a men’s joint-record 20 Major titles, giving strict definition to the ‘Big Three’, and, as Djokovic himself put it, “the next gen”, taking a swipe at the younger generation which have yet to seriously challenge their elder statesmen at the Majors.
The Djoker was given a serious test of his title credentials in his semi-final against Denis Shapovalov; though he won in straight sets, each set required him to win seven games, including the first in a tiebreak.
That was the fifth consecutive match he won in straight sets after being required to come from a set down to win his first-round match against British wildcard Jack Draper in four sets.
Also among his scalps over the past fortnight were 2018 finalist Kevin Anderson and Chilean 17th seed Cristian Garin.
On the other side of the net will be Italian seventh seed Matteo Berrettini, who has been the form player on grass over the past month after reaching the quarter-finals of the French Open, where he lost to Djokovic in four sets.
Mateo Berrettini of Italy hits a forehand. (Photo by TPN/Getty Images)
Leading into Wimbledon, the 25-year-old became the first man since Boris Becker in 1985 to win the prestigious Queen’s tournament on debut, defeating a trio of Brits to do so, including former world number one Andy Murray in the second round and Cameron Norrie in the final.
Prior to that, he reached the fourth round of the Australian Open in February, before being forced to withdraw prior to his match against Stefanos Tsitsipas due to an abdominal injury, and also reached his first Masters 1000 final in Madrid where he lost to Alexander Zverev in three sets.
He has carried over his impressive clay and grass court form into the All England Club, winning six consecutive matches to become the first man from his country to reach a Major final in 45 years, and the first to reach the Wimbledon final.
In his semi-final he defeated Hubert Hurkacz, who in his preceding quarter-final match handed Roger Federer his first straight-sets defeat at SW19 since 2002, in four sets; before that, he also won a four-set contest against Canadian 16th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.
He will have it tough coming up against Novak Djokovic, to whom he lost in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros last month.
In that match, the Italian dropped the first two sets but managed to win the third in a tiebreak before play was suspended halfway through the fourth set as the match ticked past the 11:00 pm curfew that was in place so that the fans in attendance could leave the stadium.
Berrettini had also previously lost to the Djoker in straight sets in the round-robin stage of the 2019 ATP Finals, so he will be better for the experience of facing one of tennis’ great warriors on the grand stage.
(Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Now that you’ve got all the info above, it’s time to crunch the all-important numbers below.
Head-to-head
All matches: Djokovic leads 2-0
At the majors: Djokovic leads 1-0
On grass: First meeting
Last meeting: Djokovic won 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, quarter-finals, 2021 French Open
Novak Djokovic’s road to the final
Round 1: Defeated Jack Draper (GBR) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2
Round 2: Defeated Kevin Anderson (RSA) 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
Round 3: Defeated Denis Kudla (USA) 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7)
Round 4: Defeated [17] Cristian Garin (CHI) 6-2, 6-4, 6-2
Quarter-final: Defeated Marton Fucsovics (HUN) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
Semi-final: Defeated [10] Denis Shapovalov (CAN) 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 7-5
Matteo Berrettini’s road to the final
Round 1: Defeated Guido Pella (ARG) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0
Round 2: Defeated Botic van de Zandschulp (NED) 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4)
Round 3: Defeated Aljaz Bedene (SLO) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
Round 4: Defeated Ilya Ivashka (BLR) 6-4, 6-3, 6-1
Quarter-final: Defeated [16] Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3
Semi-final: Defeated [14] Hubert Hurkacz (POL) 6-3, 6-0, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4
The stats that matter
This is Novak Djokovic’s 30th Major final, and seventh at Wimbledon, while this is Matteo Berrettini’s first Major final.
Berrettini is the first Italian man to reach a Major final since Adriano Panatta won the 1976 French Open, and the first to do so at Wimbledon in the Open Era.
Berrettini is the tenth different opponent to face Djokovic in a major final, after Roger Federer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Kevin Anderson, Juan Martin del Potro, Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev. This means, on average, Djokovic would’ve faced a different opponent every three Major finals.
Regardless of the result tonight, this will be the 45th consecutive Major and 18th consecutive Wimbledon title to be won by a European man. This also is the tenth consecutive all-European men’s major final dating back to the 2019 Australian Open.
Djokovic is aiming for a sixth Wimbledon title and a record-equaling 20th Major men’s singles title.
Djokovic is attempting to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win the first three Major titles of the season, and the first since Rafael Nadal in 2010 to win Majors on three different surfaces in the same year.
Djokovic is also aiming to become the first man since Nadal in 2010 to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year, thus achieving the ‘Channel Slam’.
Prediction
Novak Djokovic in straight sets.
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