By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday July 16, 2019
The shadows were gradually receding from the playing surface on Centre Court when Roger Federer took the balls to serve on double Championship point against Novak Djokovic. 8-7 in the fifth and 40-15 after the Swiss had served back-to-back aces. A boisterous Centre Court crowd, going nuts. TV cameras panned to a woman about four rows back from the playing surface near Federer’s baseline. She had probably paid a small fortune for the tickets and was for damn sure getting her money’s worth, wagging the No.1 finger in pure unbridled jubilation.
Then the telecast cut to Federer’s wife, Mirka, who looked to be in existential agony as she put her head in her hands.
What did she know or fear in that moment?
8-7, 40-15 and Federer one wicked serve from a record ninth Wimbledon and 21st major title. The Swiss maestro, on his beloved grass, in his beloved element, the crowd at full throttle behind him. Federer was poised on the precipice of a dream when the nightmare of Novak kicked in.
Djokovic saved both championship points and ultimately edged Federer in a shocking turn of events that was more telling of guts than of glory.
A thief in the night racing off with his fifth Wimbledon title to tie Bjorn Borg on the all-time list. Djokovic has been ripping Federer’s heart out for quite some time now, but Sunday’s five-set thriller may go down as the piece de resistance due to the fact that it was played at Federer’s preferred venue, on his favorite surface and also: that it happened in the longest Wimbledon singles final ever as well as the first fifth-set tiebreaker ever played in a singles match at the tournament.
Sometimes matches are defined by their start-to-finish quality, a steady athletic pulse, a rarefied brand of tennis. This match does not belong in that category but it will stand the test of time and forever be remembered as an epic because of who played in it and how it was won and lost. This was compelling, Grade A drama on a grand scale.
Djokovic not only won this memorable final but he won miraculously, becoming the first player to save championship points in a Wimbledon men’s singles final since 1948. That fact alone ensures that history will remember it well, for we love our champions when they win but we love them even more when they stare defeat in the eye with the eerie detachment of a cold-faced killer.
On Sunday at SW19 Djokovic was the match point miracle man and Federer was his unwilling accomplice, caught in the Serb’s web on the edge of a triumph that amalgamated into a disastrous defeat at the very last second. That is the story of this Wimbledon final. If it lacked in quality at times, and it surely did, it will weather any attempted criticism because of the manner in which it failed to disappoint in the end, particularly in an epic final set that lasted two hours and two minutes.
And it was a match of small margins making a big difference.
For Djokovic, clutch was king.
Federer won 14 more points than Djokovic over the course of the four hour, 57-minute tussle, but it was Djokovic that won 21 of 33 points in the breakers. The Serb came to life in those breakers, holding his nerve with verve as he out-steadied the Swiss in the biggest of moments.
Winning three tiebreakers against the great Federer, whose serve and precision attack are made for tiebreak tennis on grass, was a shocking development to say the least. Saving the championship points on Federer’s serve in the process was the ultimate coup.
Never mind the fact that Federer only came to net twice in those 33 tiebreaker points despite the fact that the Swiss won 51 of 65 net points and 13 of 15 serve-and-volley points over the course of the contest. Breakers come down to courage and conviction and even though there are no official stats in those two categories, it was clear as day who had the lion’s share in Sunday's final.
The historical importance of this final likely contributed to the collective tension, which was only heightened by the rambunctious pro-Federer factions that dominated the din of Centre Court. Djokovic must have felt like a cornered animal at times in this match and it must be said that he kept his composure brilliantly as he navigated the tricky terrain of a firing-on-all-cylinders Federer in the fourth and fifth sets.
Even when he was given a late code violation for rapping his racquet on the back of the umpire’s chair, Djokovic never let his emotions get involved.
“That was one thing that I promised myself coming on to the court today,” Djokovic said on Sunday after the final, “that I need to stay calm and composed, because I knew that the atmosphere will be as it was.”
When we talk of mental game in tennis we think of tactics, of tennis IQ, of situational smarts and of conservation. We don’t often talk about calm under extreme duress because it is the rarest circumstance in a tennis match. We see these points as random rolls of the dice but Djokovic’s ability to navigate his way through them shows us that there’s something more to them.
Saving match points in a Wimbledon final—you can’t practice for that. There’s no drill to get you out of a five-alarm fire on a tennis court and only the iciest competitors have what it takes. When two all-time greats are pitted against one another it takes immeasurable, almost severe, poise to gain an upper hand. To do what Djokovic has now done to Federer three times on the Grand Slam stage (he famously saved match points to defeat Federfer in 2010 and 2011 at the U.S. Open) makes you wonder: If Federer is the GOAT then what is Djokovic?
Five Wimbledons, 16 majors and four of the last five Slam titles. Djokovic has done it in dominant fashion and he has done it like he did on Sunday at Wimbledon, by scratching and clawing--by using every fiber of his being to stare down defeat and come away with the crown.
On Sunday in London Djokovic engineered the type of comeback that--according to the Wimbledon Compendium--comes around once every seven decades. On the precipice of bitter defeat he pulled past Federer to notch a poignant, preposterous victory and closed the GOAT gap again.