Djokovic wins Wimbledon and claims his 21st Grand Slam title
The unflappable Djoker defeated Australian Nick Kyrgios in four sets (4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6) to win his 21st major title and seventh at Wimbledon.
“I sometimes felt like he was a bit of a god,” Nick Kyrgios said of Novak Djokovic during the awards ceremony. The Australian was very strong in the first set, but the Serbian machine never faltered and was unwavering to win the next three sets. And despite the Serb’s consistency, Kyrgios still gave the impression that he had sabotaged his final by getting angry repeatedly from the second set. This is highly regrettable considering the overflowing talent that the fantastic Australian possesses and that he showed again this afternoon. A talent that Djokovic recognized, before adding that Nick is “a phenomenal player, a great tennis player”, especially after such a tournament.
Nick more Kyrgios than ever
Full of relaxation from the very first points, the Aussie is already playing his own way : spoon serve, devastating lifts, short or long slices in complete ease, drop shots, sometimes with extra passing, in short, a Kyrgios in his work who succeeded in his first final with calmness and application.
Djokovic is solid on his first serves, but at 2-2, Nick starts to show his genius. Two break points, the second of which is the right one with a double fault from the Serb. A break that he confirms very quickly with a white game: he already slams his fourth ace, slides a perfect half-volley and then drops a backhand smash. Great art.
The Serb doesn’t let himself be defeated. He also got a white game back, well helped by a Kyrgios who was losing points while trying to be spectacular. But on his serve, the Aussie continues his march forward. With a lot of new balls in his hands, he takes advantage of it to unleash a cascade of aces and big firsts. Untouchable on his serve, he managed to win 16 points in a row on his serve in the first set. And as luck would have it, the Aussie genius won the first set with his 7th ace of the set. Contrary to his two previous matches, Djokovic had a very good start to the match, but the talent, the 77% of first serves and the 14 winners had the last word in this first act.
The Serbian machine takes its level up a notch
Like last year’s final against Berrettini, Novak lost the first set. He had to respond and started the second act well with a white game. The problem was that the Aussie didn’t let up and answered with three aces and a service winner to keep him on the spot. And on the Serbian’s service games, he starts the rally at a rather slow pace that prevents the Djoker from developing his game.
Djoko is going to show himself even stronger and put on his mantle of best returner of the circuit. Kyrgios’ first serves are ending up less and less as service winners. The native of Belgrade reads his opponent’s serves much better and starts to return them to his feet to embarrass him. The more the points progressed, the more Djokovic managed to dictate the exchanges, varying the game well and sweeping Kyrgios to lead 2-1.
In the next game, Djoko had his first break points of the match and they were three. The first one is the good one with the help of the net and it’s a small event, because in two previous matches between the two players, the Serb had never broken the Aussie. He had barely done so when he found himself having to fight to confirm his break. He had a scare, but Nole was able to close out the match.
The show goes on with a point of anthology : Kyrgios is swept up in the exchange but stalls a backhand passing at the end of the run and then manages to place a crosscourt ball in finesse falling behind the net. Even the Serbian Elastic Man’s dive was not enough to straighten out this ball. That’s how good the Aussie’s touch is…
A late turn, but a turning point. At 5-3, when it was time to close out a set he had dominated, Djoko was down 0-40 on his serve and Nick seemed well on his way to making an unexpected debreak. But then he saw the three go away after three errors. He got a fourth one as a last chance but it too was saved and the Serb needed only one set point to come back to one set all. Reproaching a not enough support from his clan, Nick is furious and spends the break between sets to complain in the direction of his box.
A temperament tha plays bad turns on him
That’s when the self-sabotage really starts. Kyrgios loses focus on the court, grumbles between points, between games and rushes to deliver backhands and forehands, causing him to commit more unforced errors than in previous sets. Still maintaining a high level on serve, he held on to Djokovic and served to equalize at 5-5. Except that there will never be 5-5 in this third set because even when leading 40-0, the Aussie puts the Serb back in the game, gets broken and sees him master what he has to master to win the set 6-4 and lead two sets to one.
After such a terrible end of the set for him and more yelling, Kyrgios calms down and seems to have understood that his potential first Grand Slam depends on it. Both players are unstoppable on their respective sets and neutralize each other. Nick slams his 28th ace of the match, doesn’t concede a single break point but doesn’t get one either. The Serbian machine doesn’t break and the two players go to the tie-break. A tiebreak that completely escapes the Aussie, who goes off the rails with his forehand, coming up against Novak’s solidity. A last backhand that ends up in the net and allows Novak Djokovic to win his 7th Wimbledon title and to become the four-time defending champion. Indeed undefeated since 2017 in the London Major, he has also not known defeat on Centre Court since 2013.
And of course, it is Nick who will pay the restaurant.
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