Novak Djokovic (photo ©Spekoek) reached the final by defeating Andrey Golubev, Radek Stepanek, Gilles Simon, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Marin Cilic and Grigor Dimitrov. So far he lost a total of four sets: one to Stepanek, two to Cilic and one to Dimitrov. He’s in his third Wimbledon final after winning the 2011 one and losing the last year’s one.
Roger Federer has reached the final defeating Paolo Lorenzi, Gilles Muller, Santiago Giraldo, Tommy Robredo, Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic. So far he lost only a set to Wawrinka. Hee’s in his ninth Wimbledon final and won 7 of the 8 previous ones.
At the beginning of the match both players easily win their service games. The eighth game is the first advantage game with Roger Federer serving when Novak Djokovic finds some good returns, also on his opponent’s second serves but the Swiss still wins his service games. The Serb tries to be aggressive with his return but has no break points and it’s inevitable to reach the tie-break. Federer manages to take a 3-0 lead but Djokovic recovers the mini-break and goes ahedt on 5-4, serves for the set on 6-5 but Federer ties and eventually wins the first set tie-break 9-7.
In the second set, Novak Djokovic keeps on being aggressive with his return and in the third game manages to break Roger Federer. The Swiss tries to react but struggles to counter his opponent’s pressure. In the tenth game Djokovic serves for the set, has to save a break point but eventually wins the second set 6-4.
In the third set the service is dominant again and neither player is able to have a break point until the eleventh game, when Novak Djokovic has two break points but Roger Federer wins his service game. They reach another tie-break, where the Serb wins the first mini-break to take a 3-2 lead. The Swiss recovers the mini-break but loes another service point and Djokovic wins the third set tie-break 7-4.
In the fourth set Novak Djokovic breaks Roger Federer in the fourth game at the fourth break point: it’s the first of three consecutive breaks. On 5-4, Djokovic serves for the match but gets broken. In the tenth game the Serb has a break point which is also a match point but the Swiss wins his service game. Djokovic seems to suffer from the lost opportunities and on 5-5 Federer breaks him again then closes the set 7-5.
In the fifth set, Novak Djokovic gets a massage at his right calf after the third game. On 3-3 Roger Federer has a break point but Djokovic wins his service game. In the next game it’s the Serb who has three break points but the Swiss wins his service game. On 5-4 Djokovic breaks Federer winning the fifth set 6-4 to conquer the match and his second Wimbledon title.
Roger Federer is in excellent physical condition after overcoming the back problems that limited him last year. In this tournament there were all the conditions for him to win a last Grand Slam title a he he nearly did it. Probably this is his swan song at these levels but he once again offered an extraordinary performance.
Novak Djokovic has struggled in the last round and even today he wasted some important occasions and almost threw the match away. But in the end he managed to find the concentration to win a Grand Slam title after losing the last three finals. The Serb is also back to being the no. 1 in the world rankings so for him this is really a victory of huge importance.
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