KYLE SCORES AN OWN GOAL
Edmund cannot match England as Djokovic rages on
WIMBLEDON 2018
been a big hope to keep the home fires burning. And it all began so well as Centre Court, excited by England’s win over Sweden in the World Cup quarter-final, cheered Yorkshireman Edmund to the echo.
He broke serve in the seventh game and showed nerves of steel to close out the set in 55 minutes, coming back from love- 30 down to stun Djokovic with a serve right down the centre line.
But from there it was a battle as Djokovic, champion in 2011, 2014 and 2015, showed he’s recovered the spirit and fight that made him one of the most fearsome of opponents in tennis.
Since splitting from Boris Becker as his coach, the Serb had fallen under the spell of former Spanish player Pepe Imaz, who preaches peace and love as the way to win matches.
Imaz is still a key part of his team, but at 31 and with his career waning so much he’d fallen out of the top 20, Djokovic is ready to go to war again.
He put Edmund under massive pressure at the start of set two, forcing the British No.1 to save two break points in the first game, and then again at 3-4. But Edmund ended up giving away that game with a double fault – and from there Djokovic gradually turned the knife.
A year after he was forced to retire from a quarter-final at Wimbledon suffering from an elbow injury, the Serb looked fit as a fiddle, determined to ram home his advantage.
And he proved that by taking the crucial third set 6-2.
To be fair to Edmund, grass is not his best surface and he did his best to keep Djokovic playing long baseline rallies to suit his own game as best as he could.
The trouble was, Djokovic was more than capable of sticking in with those tactics.
There was controversy at 3-3 in the fourth set as Edmund rescued a break point despite suspicions of a double bounce, before he then dropped his racquet and ran into the net.
Djokovic furiously argued with the umpire that he should have been given the point, but somehow Edmund survived.
But that was when the crowd saw the flashes of the old steely competitor who never knew he was beaten.
And when he broke Edmund to go 5-4 up, Djokovic served to love before giving a huge roar which said: “I’m back”.