Djokovic Credits Marital Bliss for Success

McEnroe accepted Djokovic to be among his “all-time top five” and that he will win “four or five more Grand Slams” in the next two years.

The 33-year-old wore an effortlessly elegant blush pink and cream embellished gown at the Wimbledon Champions Dinner at the Guildhall in London, alongside male victor Novak Djokovic and Jelena Ristic. Federer failed to put up much resistance in the fourth, getting broken twice more.

Our Twitter and Facebook timelines are filled with comments about the Wimbledon final and almost all of them have a simple underlying theme – great that Djokovic won but so sad that Federer lost. Chances are he will return next year for another run and hopefully become the first man to win eight Wimbledon singles titles.

Djokovic had nothing to worry about, because he certainly kept up with the owner of the Serena Slam.

Whether it will be enough to take him beyond his two great rivals remains to be seen.

Federer had been in excellent form throughout this year’s tournament, and he continued to show it in Sunday’s final. The same is not true of Wawrinka, but the Swiss is now 30 and, while capable of brilliant stretches of play, lacks the consistency of the man he beat in Paris.

Djokovic told CNBC that while he works with a team of experts on how to invest properly, he has been trying to be “more conservative” recently. In the Open era, the ranks are 13th, 2nd, 2nd, 1st and 5th.

A few 16 years after her first grand slam triumph, Williams still stands all-but unmatched at the top of the women’s game.

Yet there was lingering ennui after he failed to capitalise on putting Nadal out of the French Open in the quarter-finals.

We may not know it now but – for a generation that started watching tennis earnestly in 2011 – he will be the greatest modern champion; he will be their Rafa and Roger; a champ without any clear weakness; a champ who never gives up; a champ who is a bonafide great. Having finally overcome the hurdle of Nadal, it was particularly painful for Djokovic not to go on and win the one Grand Slam remaining from his resume.

Serena Williams looked every inch the Champion on Sunday night as she attended a special Wimbledon dinner in a beautiful, red carpet dress.

Sympathetic “aahhs” greeted Federer’s mistakes and he looked in trouble at 4-5 in the second set when Djokovic earned a set point only to waft a loose forehand over the baseline. Nadal sits joint second on the all-time list, alongside Pete Sampras, with 14.

Yet for so much of his career he has been mentioned in a second breath after the virtues of Federer and Nadal have been extolled. The 28-year-old had no answer to Federer’s unerring serve, his superior court craft and the old master’s all-round match play.

“I feel good. I don’t feel old”.

“Over the years, one thing I’ve learned, playing professional tennis at a high level is to leave it whatever happened behind me and reset and move on”.

The presence of Federer and Nadal, with their perfectly contrasting styles and crossover appeal, has meant that Djokovic has often struggled for recognition.