Two of the modern-day greats in the world of tennis, Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, faced off for the umpteenth time in their decade long rivalry at the prestigious Wimbledon Finals. The two finest players on grass courts ground out a spectacle of a match and possibly one for the ages as Djokovic downed Federer 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3) in an exhilarating 4 hours 57 minutes’ encounter. It was also the first 12-all tie-break that decided the title.
Federer came into the finals on the back of a thrilling victory over his arch-rival Rafael Nadal, and Roberto Bautista Agut had little resistance as he was dispatched off easily by Djokovic as the Serb rolled into the final.
The match started with a closely contested first set which was forced into the tie break. Two double faults capsized the match as Djokovic won the first set to groans from the crowd. There’s no player who has quite the popularity as Roger has and it showed throughout the final as they cheered on for the Swiss maestro.
Federer did little to no mistakes as he cruised to win the second set 6-1. He carried on the momentum he gained into the third set as he started off well and Djokovic once again was tormented by the Federer serve. The third set was forced into the tie break which saw Djokovic stave off the Federer challenge and capture the third.
The fourth set witnessed the longest rally of the match – 35 shots and Djokovic broke and Federer held on as he made it two sets all.
The fifth set saw both the players slugging it out and eventually Federer had two match points at 8-7 which he squandered to take it to the tie break at 12-all.
The winning point came off skying the ball into the crowd concluding an epic Wimbledon final with Djokovic winning his fifth Wimbledon title and his 16th Grand Slam of his career.