Posted on 07/07/2014 9:55:43 AM PDT by PapaNew
Novak Djokovic clutched the most coveted award in his sport, the gilded silver, two-handled trophy presented to the winner of the Wimbledon men’s singles title.
“The All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Championship of the World,” the inscription on it reads. The name of every winner is etched on the urn or, since 2009, on a detachable base added when the trophy ran out of room.
No name appears more than Roger Federer’s, which had been etched seven times. Djokovic nearly let it happen again Sunday by blowing a huge fourth-set lead before he captured a taut fifth set to snare the trophy for himself.
Shortly after his 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-4 victory for his second Wimbledon title, Djokovic carried the trophy through the hallways of the club. He was greeted by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, known worldwide as William and Kate.
“Thank you for staying all the way through it,” Djokovic said to the royal couple.
[Meanwhile, Federer said,] “Winning or losing, it’s always something special and something you’ll remember, even more so when the match was as dramatic as it was today. “It’s even more memorable when I see my kids there with my wife and everything. That’s what touched me the most, to be quite honest. The disappointment of the match itself went pretty quickly.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I was rooting for Federer because he seems like a pretty good guy. But Djokovic was very gracious to Federer afterwards.
Speaking of Wimbledon finals, probably the most exciting Wimbledon I've ever seen was the 1980 McEnroe-Borg match. Borg was like a machine and was absolutely relentless, especially on grass. Nobody could beat him. Along comes McEnroe, with an iron will to win and a great net game as opposed to Borg's baseline game. The climax of the match was actually the forth set when McEnroe broke through Borg's iron machinery and won one of the most amazing tie breakers I've ever seen, 18-16.
Although Borg went on to beat McEnroe in the fifth set and win the championship, you saw for the first time that Borg was beatable and felt that McEnroe could take Borg. It felt like a changing of the guards had begun. Sure enough, the next major, McEnroe beat Borg in the 1980 US Open. Borg was never the same and McEnroe became the new reigning champ. Although McEnroe was labelled "superbrat", he was an exciting player, and I think he was probably right most of the time when arguing "YOU-CANNOT-BE-SERIOUS" line calls.
Watched it. It was awesome....................
Great final!
Rod Laver’s style of “serve-and-volley” will never return to major tennis and we are all diminished by that.
My “younger-day heroes” of (chronologically) Newcombe, Laver, Conners, McEnroe and R.Tanner will never again be repeated (nor truly recognized!) for their contribution to the game: hard serves, ^exceptional^ footwork and full-on attack of the advantage (AKA: owning the net.)
McEnroe should be especially revered for his hard-charge to the net and then “delicate-hands” once he established his advantage.
Take the game back to laminated wood rackets? Hmmmm..
I don’t know. I think between two guys of equal firepower on the baseline, I think the better serve-and-volley guy might have the edge.
I agree that serve and volley is probably a more exciting form of tennis. It remains for someone to step up and beat these baseline-only guys.
Terrific final. John McEnroe has become a wonderful commentator - really enjoy his perspective.
This was a match of skill, brains, finesse, heart .... and some big serves. It was “tennis” in the best sense of the sport.
Yes, great tennis and I like both of these guys.
Djokovic is a favorite of mine, but Roger has had such a terrific career (more to come, I’m sure) and he is such a master of the sport ..... truly enjoyed it. I have a relative who plays competitive tennis so I have an appreciation for the game after watching many matches! :-)
Becker, Rafter, Edberg, Stich, et al. I really miss the serve and volley game.
I was fortunate, once upon a time, to watch Rod Laver in his prime, play a round at Centre Court during the two-week Wimbledon Championships. I was so inspired that I went on to play on our high school and junior college tennis teams.
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