NOVAK DJOKOVIC HAS claimed his second Wimbledon Men’s Singles title after edging out Roger Federer in an epic five-set encounter at SW19.
The Serbian survived a stunning Federer fightback to claim the fifth set, over an hour after an ace from the Swiss had cancelled out his first championship point. He won 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4.
Federer, who was aiming for his eigth Wimbledon crown, won the first set in a tie-break but Djokovic responded well to win the next two, 6-4 and 7-6. Djokovic was 5-2 up in the fourth set but Federer began to go for broke and won the majority of the crowd over with a collection of stunning, outright winners.
32-year-old Federer claimed the next five games of that fourth set — surviving a match point thanks to an ace, courtesy of a video replay decision reversal — to win 7-5.
The fifth set was back and forth, with serves holding sway until the 10th game. Federer, having battled gamely in his previous service game, fell behing 15-40 and could not cling on any longer. He put a backhand into the net and Djokovic was the champion.
Federer said, “Going into a match with Novak, you know it’s going to be tough. I can only say congratulations to him. It was an amazing match and an amazing tournament. It’s well-deserved.” He left the Centre Court crowd with a ‘See you next year’ exclamation, indicating that he is nowhere near ready to give us his Wimbledon dream.
Djokovic responded, “He’s a tremendous athlete and a great champion. Thank you for letting me win today.”
