Sports

Djokovic tops Kyrgios for 7th Wimbledon title, 21st Grand Slam trophy

London, Jul 10 (EFE).- Novak Djokovic on Sunday prevailed over Nick Kyrgios 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 to clinch his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title and his seventh overall at the All England Club, a victory bringing his Grand Slam tally to 21.

The Serb thus became the second most decorated man in Grand Slams, one ahead of Roger Federer and one behind Rafael Nadal (22), who withdrew from the semifinal round with an abdominal injury.

The 35-year-old is now the second most successful man at Wimbledon, tied with William Renshaw and Pete Sampras, who each have seven titles. He is one title shy of Federer.

Martina Navratilova holds the record for the most Wimbledon titles with nine trophies.

“I was four or five years old and I saw Pete Sampras win his first Wimbledon in 1992,” the top-seeded Djokovic said during the trophy ceremony. “I asked my Dad and Mum to buy me a racquet, and my first image of tennis was grass and Wimbledon.”

“I always dreamed of coming here, just playing on this court, and then realizing the childhood dream of winning this trophy,” he added.

“Every single time it gets more meaningful and more special, so I’m very blessed and very thankful to be standing here with the trophy,” he continued.

During their match, the Australian Kygios relied on a powerful serve and delicate touches that allowed him to keep his delivery out of Djokovic’s reach in the first set and break the Serb’s serve in the fifth game.

Over time, however, Djokovic began to read his opponent’s serve enough to break it to love in the fourth game and then he commenced to move him around with deep groundstrokes that pinned him behind the baseline.

This approach allowed the Serb to gain control over the match and draw level at one set apiece, having rallied from a 0-40 ninth game deficit.

The two players each held serve until the ninth game, which seemed to be all but sealed with Kyrgios having a 40-0 lead. But somehow, the Australian let that game slip away along with the subsequent one, and wound up trailing by two sets to one.

The 27-year-old seemed to be unable to get past this game as he was visibly blaming himself for squandering the lead in one of his trademark on-court monologues.

The fourth set proceeded to a tiebreak that the Serb won 7-3, thus extending his Wimbledon winning streak to 28 games, having won the title in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022. The tournament was not held in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I (have no) words for what this tournament, this trophy, means to me, my team, my family,” Djokovic said.

“I’ve said this many times. It always has been and always will be the most special tournament in my heart, the one that motivated me, inspired me to start playing tennis in a small mountain resort in Serbia where my parents used to run a restaurant,” he added.

EFE Msg/ta-bp

Related Articles

Back to top button