At the presentation, Federer and Djokovic commanded the scene like the two champions they are.
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BARBARA MILLER: Federer turns 34 next month but the seven time champion was quick to dispel any talk of retirement.
ROGER FEDERER: Maybe, that’s sports, that’s why we come to watch it, because we don’t know the outcome.
“Novak does not have as many Grand Slams as those guys but I am thinking his total is going to rise quickly”.
Federer still shares the Wimbledon titles record with American Pete Sampras then – but Edberg remains confident the evergreen Swiss can win again in London, and also at the world’s other major tournaments.
As well as successfully defending his title in a repeat of last year’s final to add to his 2011 triumph, the Serb also overtook tennis legends such as Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi and Ivan Lendl in the all-time list of major winners.
Federer is a perennial Wimbledon favourite and was well backed by a packed crowd, though he was unable to end his three-year wait for an 18th grand slam title. Williams completed a “Serena Slam” for the second time since 2003, holding all Grand Slam titles in one year. But he’s clearly making a big name for himself, you know, having won as many times now as he has in these different slams. At one time, he was a solid part of the Big Four of men’s tennis – along with Federer, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal.
Borg and Laver were among the legends marvelling from the Royal Box on Sunday as Djokovic levelled his career series with Federer at 20 wins apiece in an another enthralling title showdown between the sport’s two premier players. He’s not going to hand you the match.
In the first set, Federer broke for a 4-2 lead, but Djockovic broke back immediately in the next game but Federer missed two set points before the set needed to be decided by a tiebreak.
“We managed to find the right chemistry and he has contributed a lot”, Djokovic said.
“I’m thrilled and very proud with all the success that I had so far in the career, everything I reached”, Djokovic said. Djokovic won 72 points from the baseline, Federer 50. He’s intent on playing for a long while.
“It is a great honour to play against him”, Djokovic added. “A pity I couldn’t make more of the momentum”.
Early in the third set, each player had won 96 points in the match. In all Federer produced 58 winners to Djokovic’s 46 but Federer’s unforced error count was much too high at 35 compared with Djokovic’s 16. Federer earned another set point at 11-10, and this time he came to the net after a second serve and converted a backhand volley to even the match.
“In the rain delay”, Djokovic said, “I got my thoughts together and went back to basics after the second set and played a really good match after that”.
He extended his record in Wimbledon semifinals to 10-0 with minimal fuss, having served with such consistent precision that the home hope could muster only one break point in the whole contest, and had, he said, proved a point.
“He played awesome tennis throughout the tournament”, Djokovic said of Federer. “I’m right there. My game is good”. When I was a child, dreaming of winning Wimbledon, it was something I always wanted to do in my celebration.
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“I roared because I felt like that’s the moment”, Djokovic would say later.
