Novak Djokovic Wins Fourth Wimbledon Title
After two weeks of drama and excitement, we have our @Wimbledon Champion! It’s been a fortnight of fierce competition but it’s Novak Djokovic’s name that will be written in the history books! ?
And here is the winning moment…? #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/OnsENDbzTI
— Wimbledon Channel (@WimbledonChnl) July 15, 2018
(July 15, 2018) Novak Djokovic announced his return to the men’s tennis tour as a top player on Sunday by winning his fourth Wimbledon title, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(3) over No. 8 seed Kevin Anderson.
Last year during Wimbledon Djokovic had to retire during his quarterfinal with an elbow injury which would force him off the tour for the rest of the year, this year he’s the champion.
Anderson came into the match, his second major final in less than a year after having played the second longest match in Wimbledon history, beating John Isner in the semifinals 24-22 in the fifth set in 6 ½ hours. At points during the match his tiredness showed, until the third set when he had five set points on Djokovic’s serve.
Coming into Wimbledon, he was ranked No. 21, becoming the lowest ranked player since 2001 to win the Wimbledon title. In 2001, Goran Ivanisevic, ranked No. 125, received a wild card into the draw.
His last major title came at the 2016 French Open when he held all four major titles at the same time.
This is the Serbian’s 13th major title victory which puts him one behind Pete Sampras for fourth on the all-time list. Djokovic stands seven majors behind lead Roger Federer and four behind Rafael Nadal.
“Today I felt great for the first two sets, in the third set Kevin stepped up, he was the better player, but I trusted myself,” said Djokovic. “The more you win the more you have confidence to rely upon.”
“I’d have given another 21 hours to have the opportunity to play out here – it really meant a lot to me”
Touching words from our 2018 runner-up Kevin Anderson ?#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/5XEPdItiQq
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 15, 2018
“I’d have given another 21 hours to have the opportunity to play out here … it really meant a lot to me,” said Anderson.
“It was a tough start for me,” Anderson told media. “You know, you always have high hopes. Going into the match, I was hoping to draw on some previous experiences, playing at the US Open in the finals, obviously playing Federer a couple days ago.
“But, yeah, I didn’t really find my form the way I wanted to. Of course, my body didn’t feel great. I mean, I don’t think you’re going to expect it to feel great this deep into a tournament when you’ve played so much tennis.
“But I was definitely quite nervous starting out the match. Didn’t play great tennis in the beginning. I tried my best to keep at it. Definitely felt much better in the third set. I thought I had quite a few opportunities to win that third set, especially a couple of the points where Novak hit a couple balls, I thought they were actually going out, managed to land right on the line.
“I would have loved to have pushed it to another set, but it obviously wasn’t meant to be.”
“It feels amazing because the first time in my life I have someone screaming daddy, daddy,” Djokovic said during the Wimbledon trophy ceremony. His three-year-old son Stephan, not allowed to be in the “Friend’s Box” during the match, came out after the match ended and pointed and waved to his father.
“He’s under five-years-old so he couldn’t watch the matches live, but we hoped that if this happened, I could hold the trophy then he could be there. I’m very emotional,” an emotional Djokovic said on court.
“I want to spend as much quality time as I can with him to talk to him about the lessons I have learned in life,” Djokovic said in his ESPN interview. “But there are also lessons I can learn from him. He’s my master, my buddy, and seeing him here in this moment is amazing”
“Man, I went through some difficult moments,” Djokovic said. “We all have ups and downs…let life arrange things around you. This is a great confirmation that I am on the good road”
“It was a long journey, especially considering that elbow injury that took me out from the tour for six months,” Djokovic said. “When I started training again, came back on the tour, played Australia, but I played with the pain.
“It was inevitable for me to go on a table and have a surgery, even though I was trying everything to avoid it, to be honest. It was the first, and I hope only, surgery I had. It was supposed to happen.
“After that I had a really good recovery, I thought. Maybe too fast. I got back to the court too fast. I wasn’t ready to compete. Indian Wells, Miami were not great. It took me several months really to regain the confidence, go back to basics, start to hit as many balls on the practice court as possible so I can feel comfortable, you know, playing on the high level.
“It took me many tournaments. I couldn’t pick the better place, to be honest, in the tennis world to peak and to make a comeback. Wimbledon has been always a very special tournament to me, and to many players obviously. I dreamed of winning it when I was a seven-year-old boy. I made a lot of improvised Wimbledon trophies from different materials. I really always dreamed of winning Wimbledon.
“When that happened back in 2011, when I became No. 1 of the world, in just a couple days all my dreams came true. It’s really hard to compare this year’s victory and trophy with any of the other three because they’re all special. But if I can pick one, that would be probably the first one and this year’s winning because my son was at the trophy ceremony, which made it extra special.”
Djokovic talked about fatherhood changing his motivation:
“Actually, I didn’t talk about it, but it was one of, if not the biggest, motivation I’ve had for this Wimbledon this year. I was visualizing, imagining this moment of him coming to the stands, cherishing this moment with my wife and me and everyone. It’s hard to describe.
“I mean, I never had him in the box watching the tennis match. I was hoping that Wimbledon can be that tournament because he’s big enough now I think to stay quiet maybe for 30 minutes or so. Maybe…
“There are special rules here so we have to respect them. He’s under five years old, and you’re not allowed if under five to be present.
“Roger I think had his girls and his boys as well I think last year and the years that he won at the trophy ceremony, so I was hoping I can have Stefan, too.
“He was not there till the very moment when I was walking to get an interview. He walked in. So that was just a moment that I will carry inside of my heart forever.”
Djokovic will move up to No. 10 in the world in the rankings on Monday, while Anderson will move up to No. 5 for the first time.
