DJOKOVIC THE SLAMBUSTER
He lands 20th Major to join Federer and Nadal and looks set for more
THE shared 20:20 vision of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal is over — three is now the crowd at the top of men’s tennis.
As the sun set on a unique Wimbledon last night the game was left in the extraordinary position of having three immortals duking it out with 60 major titles split between them.
Novak Djokovic joined the other two on 20 when he claimed his sixth Wimbledon title against the spirited Matteo Berrettini, but the 25-year-old Roman could not prevent a 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 defeat whic took three hours and 24 minutes.
He will be back, but so will Djokovic, who became the first man since Rod Laver to win the first three majors of the season. The calendar Slam is on at the US Open and only the most foolhardy would bet against the Serb.
It should not be forgotten that this year there was only a two-week gap between the clay of Roland Garros and the grass — at its most perilous in the early rounds — of SW19. So this was the trickiest hurdle to surmount and it would explain why, including yesterday, Djokovic was never really at his best in the past fortnight.
Consider also that the 34year-old only had one Grand Slam to his name when Federer had 16. In reality, while Nadal has largely monopolised Paris, when it comes to the other surfaces and big tournaments one player has really dominated the last six years.
The great Swiss looks to have run out of road, while Nadal was so broken by his defeat at Roland Garros he did not make the trip across the Channel this time. Their parity with Djokovic is looking both temporary and defenceless.
We saw again in this final, as we did in the semis against Denis Shapovalov, that the Serb lives rent-free in the heads of opponents when it comes to so many crunch points. That advantage has been hard-earned over a long period. His ability to lock in and force other players to take the initiative under the greatest pressure is arguably his biggest single attribute.
History weighed heavily upon him here and this was not one of his great performances. He was fragile at times, his second serve sitting up to be punished, but it was enough, as it so often is.
In the two big duels of the match his returns just edged the Berrettini powerhouse serve, while his backhand shaded his opponent’s similarly clubbed forehand. He knows better than to panic and when he went behind he played within himself, working out that the conservative way would probably be sufficient. He made 21 unforced errors to Berrettini’s 48.
The Italian will only improve for this experience and has announced himself as a major force.
The volcanic eruption of the arena which greeted Berrettini taking the first set was a beautiful sound, no matter what your view, or who you support. It had been an eventful opener and one which both players, clearly nervous, had looked reluctant to win.
Djokovic was extremely edgy at the start. Luckily for him the Italian was even more uptight and, as we have seen so often before, could not take his chances.
Somehow the Serb found himself 4-1 up and when he moved to 5-2 all looked predictable. There then followed a 22-point game which Berrettini held after saving a set point. That tipped Djokovic back into the anxiety zone and he was broken when the Italian reached a dropshot and flicked a winner down the line.
Berrettini knew he had to apply some scoreboard pressure to have any chance and he delivered in the tiebreak.
As for most of this event Djokovic had not been at his imperious best, but he broke early and after getting ahead to 5-2 managed to serve it out, confidently, at the second time of asking.
The Italian was duly broken early in the third as an increasingly assured Djokovic cleverly stole into the net.
Doing his best to keep the ball away from his opponent’s fearsome forehand he had a mini-crisis in the sixth game of the third but saved two break points, interacting with an increasingly boisterous crowd.
He was also slowing down the pace he was giving to Berrettini’s groundstrokes and drawing errors as a result. A forehand wide sealed a two sets to one lead. Just about keeping his head amid a highly charged atmosphere, at 3-3 in the fourth set the pressure paid off when Berrettini double faulted on break point to seal the outcome.
The stately Centre Court has been a symbol of continuity in disturbing times. So, increasingly, is the sight of Djokovic winning.