Wimbledon: match balls fought off! Novak Djokovic wins final thriller against Roger Federer
Novak Djokovic won the fifth Wimbledon title in his career in a dramatic finale. The world number one beat the eight-time champ Roger Federer with 7: 6 (5), 1: 6, 7: 6 (4), 4: 6 and 13:12 (3) - after defending two match balls. Here you could read the final in the live ticker!
by Florian Goosmann from Wimbledon
last edit: Jul 14, 2019, 09:04 pm
At the end of round one, there was also some balance in the audience ranks. A “come on, Roger!” Had been heard several times since the beginning of the final, and was a somewhat quieter “come on, Novak” scurried across the center court, and just before Federer wanted to serve at 5: 5, a fan roared: "We love you both!"
So far, the sentence had run at a high level, to the delight of Rod Laver, Stefan Edberg with daughter Emilie and of course the royal appendix in the Royal Box. Federer was the expected more aggressive and varied player, but his forehand spread a lot at the beginning. The Swiss gave the only breakball of the round in the 2-1 with just one forehand into double-off. If it became critical again later, both actors freed themselves with strong first serves. Federer varied especially when the Djoker served, when he came into the rally, sliced a lot and attacked here and there - a breakball was no longer enough.
Federer gives tiebreak leadership out of hand
In the tie break it went back and forth: Djokovic managed the first mini break, Federer equalized and pulled away to 5: 3. Then he left the forehand again - and the Djokovic made four points in a row to win the set after 58 minutes. Even if Federer had felt closer: With a win rate of 88 percent on the first serve and only six mistakes without need (at Federers 14), the set win for the world number one was numerically deserved.
Bitter statistics for Federer at this point: he could only win against Djokovic once he had lost set one (Dubai 2014); In general, Djokovic passed the 37-year-old with 8 wins from the last 10 matches in direct comparison with 25:22.
Djokovic absent in run two
In set two, Djokovic quickly reached his house number of unconditional mistakes. The almost 15,000 spectators on Center Court had barely digested the outcome of the first round, when it was already 4-0 for Federer. Djokovic seemed to be completely out of the role, and while Federer conjured 5: 1, Djokovic beat a second serve wide at 0:40. This sentence: Djokovic just wanted to finish it, which he had succeeded in doing after only 25 minutes. Parallels to the Federer-Nadal semi-finals? It was hard to miss at that moment.
Djokovic fends off set ball and takes the 2-1 set lead
Djokovic then left the seat briefly and found the reset button. Both now got a lot of points about the serve, without the highlight ball changes from round one. A short 15:30 opening for Djokovic in the 4: 4 destroyed Federer with placed player openings. Federer won the best ball change of the set with a difficult semi-volley stop to set ball, but Djokovic fought back with a body serve and made it 5: 5.
Federer left the backhand again in the tie-break, and Djokovic quickly won 3-0 and 5-1. A chance to 5: 5 on a second serve gave Federer away with a slice. Djokovic took the lead with 2-1 sets, although Federer had been the better of almost all the statistics of the passage - and Djokovic had never come to a breakball in the entire match.
Federer enforces sentence five
Federer now looked knocked out, but he fought: A Hawk-Eye decision brought him two early break chances to 3-2 with great cheers - and Federer immediately used the first. Another break followed, followed by Djokovic for his first break chance of the game, which Federer defended in a rally over 35 strokes (!) With a backhand winner along the line. Djokovic got there anyway and reduced to 4: 5, then Federer served to zero - the fifth set had to bring the decision after almost three hours of play.
Djokovic fends off match balls
This time Djokovic was allowed to present - an advantage in the decision sentence. Here Federer had triple bad luck with the net edge in the 1: 2, but gradually fended off three break chances.
Afterwards Federer left both his first serve and the backhand: three of them flew out in a short rally, Djokovic broke for the second time in the match. However, Federer came in direct return to the connection and 4: 4.
Great action: At 5: 5 and 15:30, Djokovic also unpacked a stop, Federer ran it, but the 32-year-old Djoker dipped out the volley - and secured the game. At 5: 6 Federer finally got into trouble, had two debts, but remained nerve-wracking.
The supposed decision was made at 7: 7: Djokovic already had a 30: 0 when Federer got back and made the break with a forehand pass. The Swiss then served to win the match, led with 40:15 and had two match balls - and still gave up the game.
Federer recovered from the shock after losing seven points in a row and soon equalized to 9: 9. At 11:11, Federer had two chances to break thanks to Hawk-Eye help, but Djokovic fended off.
Match tie-break must make a decision
And then he came, the first match tie-break ever at 12:12 in singles. Djokovic managed the decisive minibreak to 2-1, and he never gave it up until the match was won.
Federer was praised in the winning interview for an endgame that you will never forget - "I hope that I will do it soon," countered the.
"When I was a kid, this tournament was the one I wanted to play in and win," said Djokovic. He has now managed this for the fifth time.