No. 8 still elusive for Roger Federer at Wimbledon

The Swiss star, who is 34 next month, would have become the oldest man to win Wimbledon in the professional era. Djokovic blew a total of six set points and after Federer claimed the tiebreakers 12-10 it seemed that he had the momentum.

This story was first published on CNN.com, “Wimbledon 2015: Novak Djokovic beats Roger Federer for third title”.

There was a glimpse of a comeback when Federer had 30-0 up on Djokovic’s serve but the world number one kept his composure to preserve his advantage. In the end it was not to be, as the Swiss – surely now confirmed as the greatest ever to play the game – was ground down by the brilliance and athleticism of Novak Djokovic.

A year after Djokovic crumbled in the fourth set, he avoided the same fate by ending proceedings with a forehand victor.

For the second year running in the All England Club’s showpiece final Federer played majestically, but could not break down the defences of the game’s ultimate warrior. And for the second year in a row, Federer’s bid for a record eighth championship at the grass-court tournament ended with a defeat against Djokovic.

“Everybody knows that”, Federer said after his 7-6 (1), 6-7 (10), 6-4, 6-3 loss. “It tasted very, very good this year”. He won’t hand you the match. As I said on the court, when I was a child dreaming of winning Wimbledon, it was something I always wanted to do in my celebration.

This fortnight, Federer won 89 of 90 service games entering the final, then again was broken four times.

“It takes a little bit of everything: recognizing the moment, having the good intuition, following your instincts of where the serve is going to go, being in the right balance”, Djokovic, 28, said.

“I put the highest goals in front of me, especially after what happened to me at Roland Garros”. Against Djokovic he made 35 unforced errors, compared with 11 in defeating Murray.

Novak Djokovic understood who he was playing and where he was playing Sunday. “Everybody knows that”, Federer said. Let’s go take a shower, come back. How many players might have lapsed into an mad sulk, faced with two such opponents, Federer and the crowd? The crowd voiced a collective “awwwww” of lament after a fault by Federer or a mid-point “ooooh” of excitement when he conjured up something exquisite.

“More or less anywhere I play against Roger, it’s the same”.

The top seed moved up another notch in the tie-break, however, crashing down a number of blistering forehands which proved too strong for Federer, who double faulted to concede the set. Twice, he held a set point and failed to convert.

That was part of a run in which Djokovic reeled off 14 of 15 points, particularly noteworthy against this foe, on this surface, at this tournament.

“In the end when I finished the last point, I took out everything that was in me”, he said.

He regrouped, staving off seven set points in the second and taking that tiebreaker.

So 110 minutes in, they were all tied up.

And despite the break in the first set against Djokovic that erased his early lead, Federer was looking stellar again through two sets.

After all those missed opportunities in the set, Djokovic was clearly rattled, intensely castigating himself and appeared on the edge of becoming unhinged.

That paved the way for a titanic tiebreak where the 33-year-old saved six more set points before levelling the final on his second set point. He pumped his arms and screamed, then bent down, plucked some grass from Centre Court and put it his mouth – just as he did when he won his first title in 2011 and again previous year. “This is his trophy equally as mine”.

“There is no reason not to be satisfied with what I have achieved”, he said after adding more Wimbledon silverware to his five Australian Open trophies and a US Open title. Djokovic has come along in an epoch in which he has to occupy competitive space not only with the much-adored No. 2 Federer, but also with Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, which just might be the most elbow-jammed period of tennis history.