Federer still ‘hungry’ despite Wimbledon loss

If not for an incredible upset performance by Federer’s Davis Cup teammate Stan Wawrinka over Djokovic in the French Open final last month, Djokovic, like Serena Williams, would be gunning for a Grand Slam at the U.S. Open in New York later this summer.

The Federer-Djokovic rivalry – despite their age difference (Djokovic is 28) – is among the greatest in all of sports.

Novak Djokovic has retained his Wimbledon crown and ended Roger Federer’s bold bid to become tennis’s oldest grand slam champion with a scintillating four-set victory in yesterday’s blockbuster final.

On the stats there wasn’t a struck match between them.

The 28-year-old Djokovic of Serbia did win, defeating Federer, 7-6 (1), 6-7 (10), 6-4, 6-3 on Center Court at the All England Club and showing that he deserved his No. 1 seeding but also recognition as the best now in the sport. “He’s not going to hand you the match”.

It is ominous for Djokovic’s rivals that he considers grass as “not in the comfort zone”, maintaining instead that his game is better suited to harder courts with longer rallies. But of course you sort of walk away empty-handed. “For me, a finalist trophy is not the same”, Federer said. “Everybody knows that”, Federer said.

This was a change of pace for Djokovic from just a few hours prior, when he tried to tear his shirt off in frustration after losing the second set to Roger Federer in their championship match. In all Federer produced 58 winners to Djokovic’s 46 but Federer’s unforced error count was much too high at 35 compared with Djokovic’s 16.

“Novak played not only great today but the whole two weeks, plus the whole year, plus last year, plus the year before that”, Federer said in an on-court interview after the trophy presentation.

“We don’t know who is what, all these things, but he’s clearly making a big name for himself, having won as many times now as he has in these different slams”.

Hingis and Paes also won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open this year.

However, after that, it was only going one way and Djokovic was in no time chewing on the Wimbledon turf in his now familiar celebration. “Once more, it has been a privilege to play here”, Federer, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, said. So breathlessly quiet between points that ball bounces at the baseline could be heard before serves, fans voiced an “awwwww” of lament after a fault by Federer or a mid-point “ooooh” of excitement when he would hit an exquisite shot.

While Federer’s 56 winners, including a stunning flicked backhand pass at 5-4 in the third set that had a forlorn Murray gazing skyward, ensured the execution was swift.

This was Djokovic’s second straight Wimbledon title and third in total.

“If you think of those opportunities in the grand slams, if it’s five years, it’s 20: and I see him adding to this collection very, very soon”.

“When I was younger it was a goal of mine to win the calendar slam”. History will remember him as the guy who couldn’t quite catch up to Federer and Nadal.