Djokovic edges Federer in 5 sets for 5th Wimbledon trophy

WIMBLEDON, England  — Novak Djokovic became the first man in 71 years to win Wimbledon after facing match points in the final, coming back to beat Roger Federer in an unprecedented fifth-set tiebreaker Sunday.

By barely emerging to win 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3) after nearly five tight, tense and terrific hours, Djokovic claimed his fifth championship at the All England Club and second in a row.

“Unfortunately in these kinds of matches,” Djokovic said, “one of the players has to lose.”

This triumph also earned Djokovic his 16th Grand Slam trophy, moving him closer to the only men ahead of him in tennis history: Federer with 20, and Rafael Nadal with 18.

Federer has ruled grass courts since the early 2000s; he has won Wimbledon eight times dating to 2003, and this was his record 12th appearance in the title match. But Djokovic is now 3-0 against Federer in finals at the place and 4-0 against him in five-setters.

This one was unlike any other, though.


That’s because, while it was reminiscent of Federer’s 16-14 fifth-set victory over Andy Roddick in the 2009 Wimbledon final, that score is no longer possible: The All England Club altered its rule this year to do away with never-ending matches and institute a tiebreaker at 12-all in a deciding set.

At one point during the final set Sunday, Djokovic asked chair umpire Damian Steiner whether the change called for the tiebreaker at 10-10. Later, when Djokovic held for an 11-10 lead, it was Steiner who got confused, beginning to call out the score as 11-9, before catching himself.

Federer and Djokovic pushed each other to the limit in what became as much a test of focus and stamina as it was about skill. It is destined to be discussed for years.

“I’ll try to forget,” joked Federer, who is less than a month shy of his 38th birthday and would have been the oldest man to win a Grand Slam title in the professional era.

First, it was Federer who kept falling behind, then coming back. He twice trailed by a set. He was down a break early in the crucible of the fifth. And, then, after seemingly gaining the upper hand, standing a single point from winning while serving for the victory at 8-7, 40-15, he faltered.

He sent a forehand wide on the first championship point, and Djokovic produced a cross-court forehand winner on the next. Soon enough, the 32-year-old Djokovic had broken back and on they would play.

Djokovic has done this to Federer before. In the semifinals of the 2010 and 2011 U.S. Opens, Djokovic erased two match points before coming back to win each time.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Federer reaches crossroads at Wimbledon

Fifteen years after famously stunning Pete Sampras at Wimbledon, seven-time champion Roger Federer returns to the All England Club with his career at a crossroads and his confidence at crisis point.

The 34-year-old Swiss, holder of a record 17 Grand Slam titles, is without a major since Wimbledon in 2012 and is enduring arguably the toughest year of his career.

Injury forced him to skip the French Open ending a streak of 65 successive appearances at the Slams stretching back to 1999.

He has failed to add to his 88 titles this year, his longest drought since 2000 and has suffered back-to-back semi-final losses in Stuttgart and Halle, both on grass which has been his preferred surface of domination.

In an indication of changing times, his last-four loss in Stuttgart to Alexander Zverev was his first against a teenager in 10 years.

But the Swiss star is adamant that he can still be a winner even if clinching an eighth crown at Wimbledon would make him the oldest ever champion in south-west London, surpassing Arthur Ashe who was a month shy of his 32nd birthday when he lifted the trophy in 1975.

“I think if my movement gets better and then the baseline game improves a little bit, I’ll be better on the big points, on the return and also in less trouble on my own service games,” said Federer.

“But I’m okay and I’m pleased. I’m feeling now we’ve got enough time before Wimbledon to get ready for that.”

The fact that Federer has reached the last two Wimbledon finals is testament to his capacity to surprise both his supporters and doubters.

The problem, however, is that he lost both those championship matches to Novak Djokovic, the world number one who currently holds all four majors and is halfway to the first calendar Grand Slam since 1969.

Djokovic leads their head-to-head only by 23-22, but has claimed their last four clashes at the majors. Federer hasn’t defeated the Serb at a Slam since the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2012.

“Is Djokovic now the man to beat? Absolutely. Does he deserve to be where he is? 100 per cent. But is he beatable? Yes, of course he is. I beat him three times last year,” Federer told the Guardian this week.

Wimbledon has always been Federer’s home-from-home even if his first two visits as a pony-tailed contender with a short fuse and dream one-handed backhand ended in first round losses.

But his fourth round defeat of seven-time winner Sampras in 2001 marked him out as the American’s natural heir even if 2002 saw a woeful first round exit to Mario Ancic.

That blip was forgotten 12 months later when he won his first Wimbledon, spiking the heavy artillery of Mark Philippoussis in the final.

Since then, he has enjoyed more successes than setbacks.

Federer won the title every year between 2003 and 2007, adding two more in 2009 and 2012.

In between, he lost the 2008 final to Rafael Nadal in what is widely-regarded as the finest men’s championship match in history, a five-set epic which ended in semi-darkness.

However, there was also a shock second round exit to world number 116 Sergiy Stakhovsky in 2013.

Federer was 31 then and the career obituaries were being composed. They have been dusted off a few times since.

“Don’t you understand that playing tennis is great fun? I don’t need to win three slams a year to be content,” he told the Guardian.

“If the body doesn’t want to do it, if the mind doesn’t want to do it, if my wife doesn’t want me to do it, if my kids don’t like it, I’ll stop tomorrow. Zero problem.”

source: sports.inquirer.net