 |
| Novak Djokovic of Serbia |
Novak Djokovic claimed his first Wimbledon title in the 125 years of the tennis competition's history and he did it by beating the former number one and defending champion, Rafael Nadal, 6-4, 6-1, 1-6 and 6-3 in two hours and 28 minutes.
This was the fifth final meeting between both players and Djokovic confirmed his superiority over the Spaniard with the four-set victory.
Djokovic, who will be revealed as the new number one today, had too much for the defending champion but for the third set that Nadal really had the Serb on the ropes. It was a resumption of normal service in the fourth set but it took till the seventh game for Djokovic to break Nadal and from that point there was no turning back for the Serbian bomber.
Djokovic, has lost just one match so far this year - the French Open semi-final to Roger Federer - and confirmed on Wimbledon centre court that he is the best player on the men's circuit.
This will also be Nadal's first time of losing to anyone other than Roger Federer in a Grand Slam final. The win also improved Djokovic's record in 2011 to 48 matches won in 49 matches. He has now beaten Nadal twice on hardcourts, twice on clay and now once on grass.
The Serb's victory was witnessed by the Serbian president Boris Tadic, who was in the Royal Box along with several former champions like Bjorn Borg. Nadal had won 20 straight matches at the All England Club, including the 2008 epic win over Roger Federer and last year. He missed the 2009 tournament because of injury, but was playing in his fifth Wimbledon final in six years.
Nadal had been truthful about the task he was to face in the finals and he revealed that, "It's always tough to play against Novak (Djokovic), he's playing fantastic this year and has only been beaten once.
I've lost four times already against him but I will try my best, as always." Nadal did try his best but his best was just not enough to stop the dream of Djokovic.
And after the loss, Nadal was gracious in defeat saying, "I could have beaten almost everybody today, but not Djokovic, because he just played unbelievable. He was everywhere. He returns unbelievable all the time on his baseline."
Djokovic trailed Nadal 16-11 in head-to-head meetings going into the final and had never beaten his opponent in any grand slam final - they met in the final match of the 2010 US Open, which Nadal won to complete his Grand Slam titles.
But nobody will be betting confidently against Djokovic repeating his win in the US, come September. And then it will be left for him to win the French Open
0 comments:
Post a Comment