World No.1 Novak Djokovic wins 2021 Wimbledon crown

World No.1 Novak Djokovic wins 2021 Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Championship singles crown after defeating Italian  Matteo Berrettini in the finals.

The Serbian snacked on the grass in celebration after coming from a set down against Matteo Berrettini to win The Championships for a sixth time. 

Eating the court has become Djokovic’s signature move – he had also done so on every previous occasion he had won this title – but this time it was different, this time the rye grass would have been all the sweeter.

This was the afternoon, loaded with tennis history, when the World No.1 put himself level with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on 20 Grand Slam singles titles, and also three quarters of the way to becoming the first man since Australia’s Rod Laver in 1969 to accomplish the near-mythical calendar-year Grand Slam. 

By adding the Wimbledon title to this season’s triumphs at the Australian Open and Roland-Garros, the Serbian was also advancing the argument that he should ultimately be considered the GOAT, the Greatest of All Time, in the men’s game. 

Making history isn’t easy, even if you have Djokovic’s “wolf energy” and extensive experience, with this his 30th appearance in a Grand Slam final. To win last month’s Roland-Garros title, Djokovic had to come from two sets down against Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, and he also didn’t have everything his own way against Berrettini.

Going into the final, Djokovic had won 18 sets in a row, a run that started after dropping the first one in the opening round against Jack Draper, a teenage British wild card.

While Djokovic couldn’t keep that sequence going against Berrettini, the first Italian to play in a Wimbledon final, what mattered to him was that he won the title, which he did with a 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory that took almost three and a half hours.

“To stand here with a sixth Wimbledon title, that’s amazing,” said Djokovic. “That was a tough match today. Matteo’s a true Italian hammer. I felt that on my skin.” 

You can understand why Djokovic regards the wolf – which he sees as “a loner who survives and thrives” on its own – as his spirit animal.

On top of everything else, Djokovic is, at 34, the second oldest man in history to win Wimbledon, behind only Federer, who was 35 in 2017. He is also only the fourth man in the post-1968 Open era – after Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras and Federer – to win three consecutive Wimbledon titles. 

In his Wimbledon whites and reversed baseball cap, Berrettini had been attempting to turn Centre Court Savoy blue, with ambitions of becoming the first Italian man to win a Grand Slam singles title since Adriano Panatta was the Roland-Garros champion 45 years ago.

Berrettini serves so quickly – as fast as 139mph during The Championships – that there were occasions when Djokovic, one of the greatest returners in the history of the sport, was rushed into the unorthodox technique of hitting the ball almost in front of his face, while squatting.

In his first six matches, Berrettini had only been broken five times, his reward for producing more than a century of aces, more than anyone else this Fortnight. The problem for Berrettini, in his seventh match of the tournament, was that he didn’t always have Djokovic playing unconventional returns.

While Berrettini had been expecting to feel “stress” in a Wimbledon final, he wouldn’t have imagined that he would be quite so edgy. For the first half an hour, Berrettini wasn’t anything like the same player that he had been on the way to the final and found himself 2-5 down, and needing more than 10 minutes to hold serve and stay in the opening set, including saving a set point.

Then Berrettini broke Djokovic as he served for the opening set, and the Italian went on to take the tie-break, finishing it with an 138mph ace down the middle. For the first time in almost a fortnight, Djokovic had lost a set, and someone on Centre Court raised a sign: ‘It’s coming Rome.’ 

Except it wasn’t. There was an immediate response from Djokovic, who was soon 4-0 up in the second set. While Djokovic couldn’t serve out the set at the first time of asking at 5-2, he had the insurance of a second break and was successful at the second attempt.

Djokovic was the better player in the third set, but even then Berrettini wouldn’t fade away.

Serving at 2-3, 0-30 in the fourth set, Djokovic appeared to be in some difficulties, but he held on and then broke in the next game when Berrettini double-faulted at break point down.

While Berrettini saved Djokovic’s first championship point with a volley, and the second with a 101mph forehand down the line, on the third he ended a long rally with a backhand error. 

Moments later, Djokovic was munching on the Centre Court grass.