WHIRL CUP FINAL
Djokovic hurries to Wimbledon glory and admits: I didn’t think I’d be back
SO Novak Djokovic and not Serena Williams was the comeback story of Wimbledon 2018.
While the US superstar lost the women’s final in her 14th match on her return from maternity leave, the Serb rediscovered his old ruthlessness to crush Kevin Anderson and win his first Grand Slam for over two years.
And the former world No.1 then said fatherhood had driven him to get back to the top of the game.
Djopkovic rated his 13th Major triumph alongside his first Wimbledon win, with his three-year-old son Stefan on Centre Court to see him lift the trophy here for the fourth time.
As in 2011, he bent down and ate the grass in this “sacred place” for tennis. “I had a double portion this year,” he said. But Djokovic, struggling on and off the court, lost his appetite for the sport after completing his career Grand Slam at the 2016 French Open.
He lost in the Wimbledon third round a month later and then withdrew here last year with an elbow injury which kept him out for six months.
He came back too soon after February surgery and even claimed he might not play the grass-court season after crashing out in the quarter-finals in Paris. “I’m glad I didn’t now,” he joked.
And after winning the real final against Rafa Nadal in the semis, Djokovic was back to his best as he cut the big South African down to size in a one-sided final.
“It really is special considering the last two years,” he said. “It was a long journey, I had many moments of doubt. I didn’t know if I could come back to compete.
“There were several moments where I was frustrated and questioning whether I could get back to the desired level or not. But that makes this whole journey even more special for me.
“It’s easy to talk about now and I really am grateful to go through these mixed emotions, turbulences as well mentally, moments of doubt and disappointment and frustration, anger.
“But I’m as human as all of you and we all have to go through that. It’s a learning curve, it really is. It helped me, not just as a tennis player, but as a human being to get to know myself on deeper levels.
“You get to have an opportunity to rise like a phoenix and evolve and get better.”
Andy Murray picked his fellow 31-year-old for the title last week – and will take heart from his rival’s return to the top after injury.
The new world No.10, also a father of two, spoke afterwards of the emotion of seeing his son on Centre Court after the match.
“It feels amazing because, for the first time in my life, I have someone screaming ‘Daddy, Daddy’,” he said.
“It was one of, if not the biggest, motivation I’ve had for Wimbledon this year. That was just a moment I will carry inside of my heart forever.”
Djokovic’s win ends the run of six consecutive Slams won by Federer and Nadal, but continues the Big Four’s dominance of Wimbledon since 2002. Yet he will never be loved here like the other three and he again shushed the Centre Court crowd yesterday.
All England Club member Tim Henman said: “When you are bouncing the ball that long, someone’s going to say, ‘Hit it’.”
The paying public really just wanted a contest. There was a horrible inevitability about the result from when new world No.5 Anderson lost his opening service game with a double fault. He improved in the third set, but could not convert five set points as Djokovic won 6-2 6-2 7-6.
For Anderson, after incredible wins over Roger Federer and then his semi-final epic over John Isner, this was a match too far.
“I didn’t really find the form I wanted to,” said Anderson, who lost last year’s US Open final. “I would have loved to have pushed it to a fourth set, but it wasn’t meant to be.”