Had he won, the 33-year-old would have been the oldest man to win Wimbledon in the professional era. Now leading 6-3 in the second tiebreak, a two-set advantage beckoned.
Advertisement
The wins come more than a decade after Hingis won the Wimbledon singles title in 1997 and women’s doubles in 1996 and 1998.
“It tasted very, very good this year”, Djokovic joked.
The defending champion outplayed Federer in four sets Sunday to win his third Wimbledon title and ninth Grand Slam championship.
Spokeswoman Nicola McGeady said: “After going top price on Djokovic heading in to the tournament, we were praying for a Federer victory this afternoon”.
Roger Federer has lost five Grand Slam finals since his famously weepy 2009 Australian Open loss to Rafael Nadal and each one of those defeats has been accompanied by the question, “will Roger Federer win another major?”
Federer evened the match after taking a bitterly contested second set.
He closed out the match by breaking Federer for the second time in the fourth set, hitting an inside-out forehand victor into the open court on the final point.
Both players have produced some big serves with Djokovic serving 6 aces to Federer’s 2.
The match was briefly halted because of rain. The Centre Court of Wimbledon, seven titles. They have met 40 times, each winning 20 matches.
On Sunday, he improved to 3-1 in Wimbledon finals and as per his tradition after his victories, bent over and munched on some of the hallowed grass.
Last month the Serb experienced much different emotions when he faced another Swiss, Stan Wawrinka, on the red clay of Roland Garros.
Ex- Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, Italian football World Cup victor Alessandro Del Piero, actor Clive Owen and Vogue fashion magazine editor Anna Wintour were also watching on Centre Court.
The Serb committed just three unforced errors in the first set, a key statistic in what would always be a tight encounter.
Novak Djokovic eased his way passed Richard Gasquet in the other semi final to set up this mouth watering prospect this afternoon.
Djokovic’s incredible range gave him the first point. On another set point, he struck an outrageous second serve.
Djokovic had already wasted a set point in the second set before an epic tiebreak.
Djokovic took the third in double-quick time…
…
Djokovic likes to push players back on their heels as soon as possible. Djokovic will certainly test his rallying ability; Federer must stand his ground.
Roger Federer won the coin toss at the net and made a decision to serve first against Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.
The number one seed was now firmly in the ascendancy and Federer could only cling on, saving another two break points, to keep his opponent in touch.
Federer, 33, saw his hopes of a record eighth Wimbledon title dashed by number one seed Djokovic.
There’s a mix of show biz and tennis royalty on the Royal Box guest list for the men’s final at Wimbledon.
Numerous stars were spotted watching the action on Centre Court, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Bradley Cooper and Hugh Grant.
Worldwide Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach is also among the invited guests.
They won’t be playing this time, though.
“He was tougher on the bigger points, and played great”, Federer said. He fell to 0-3 in French Open finals and was once again stopped from completing a career grand slam.
In their playing days, Becker was 25-10 in matches against Edberg. Their rivalry is palpable, but so is the mutual respect.
Edberg took the first one in 1988, but Becker won a year later.
Advertisement
House of Commons speaker John Bercow did not try to hide his support, as he arrived at the All England Club sporting a Roger Federer baseball cap.
