Novak Djokovic yesterday won his first Grand Slam title in over two years when he defeated Kevin Anderson. This is his 13th Grand Slam title, and he achieved it with a 6-2 6-2 7-6 (7-3) over his opponent. Djokovic, ranked the 12th seed, claimed this title as his first major one since the 2016 French Open.
The 31-year-old Serbian tennis player was quick to take control of the game winning the opening set in the first 29 minutes. He went ahead to break twice more in the second set than in the first. In an even third set, he saw off five set points before he conquered the tie-break and took the victory.
In that moment, Djokovic dropped to his knees inside the baseline as the Centre Court gave thundering applause to acclaim the champion. Djokovic and South African Anderson shared a hug at the net before Djokovic headed over to his box, celebrating in front of his wife Jelena and his coaching team.
Djokovic has previously won 3 Wimbledon titles in 2011, 2014, and 2015. In a comment, he said that he faced many moments of doubt, not knowing whether he would make it to that level to compete. He added that there was no better place to make a comeback as the Wimbledon is a sacred place for the world of tennis. He now in the fourth place on the all-time list of Grand Slam men’s singles tennis, beating Roy Emerson and getting closer to Pete Sampras (14), Rafael Nadal (17), and in the lead Roger Federer (20). Former world number one will move back into the top 10 when the rankings are updated and released on Monday.
Djokovic Makes His Comeback
The Serbian player dominated the men’s game early in this decade, holding the number 1 ranking in men’s single games for 223 weeks. He completed a career Grand Slam when two years ago, he won the title at Roland Garros. The period after this was not quite in his favor. He lost to Sam Querrey in the 3rd round of Wimbledon 2016 and this was followed by his form subsequently tailing off. He hinted at some difficulties in his personal life at the time. Djokovic was also struggling with fitness as he took two spells away from the ATP Tour due to an elbow injury. This forced him to drop out of the world’s top 20 earlier this year, the first time since 2006.
Now, after a delightful performance at Wimbledon, Djokovic has reclaimed his place among the world’s elite. He broke twice in each of the opening 2 sets, destroying Anderson’s service game and following this with multiple wins over his opponent in the rallies.
Anderson did not move forward or even vary much on the court, at least not until the thirst set. Djokovic, however, handled the threat and won the game in 2 hours and 18 minutes. He said that he was not feeling as fresh as he was coming into the week and that he would have given another 21 hours to get the chance to play out there.