Wimbledon: Djokovic bounces back
Never write off Novak Djokovic. That’s the lesson of last Sunday’s Wimbledon final, a straight-sets victory over South African player Kevin Anderson, said Mike Dickson in the Daily Mail. Almost two years had passed since the 31-year-old Serb had even made it beyond the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam. But over the past fortnight, he has reminded us that he is an “extraordinary athlete and competitor”. For the first time since 2016, a player other than Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal has triumphed at a Grand Slam; Djokovic has now won 13, putting him behind only Federer, Nadal and Pete Sampras.
Two years ago, Djokovic completed “arguably the greatest feat of Open-era tennis”, said Simon Briggs in The Daily Telegraph. He won four Grand Slams in a row, culminating in his first French Open title. But that year of “absolute rule” took so much out of him that he has been “recovering ever since”. He struggled with an elbow injury until he underwent surgery earlier this year; he admitted to having “issues” in his private life. But with this victory, Djokovic confirmed that he is back to his best, said Matthew Syed in The Times. It’s true that he doesn’t play the most dazzling kind of tennis. But his dependability – the way he hits groundstrokes, returns serves, chases down balls – “contains its own kind of beauty”. He is “not just one of the greats of tennis, but of sport”.
In the women’s final the day before, “the stage was set perfectly” for Serena Williams to win an eighth Wimbledon single’s title, only ten months after giving birth to her first child, said Barry Flatman in The Sunday Times. But it wasn’t to be: Angelique Kerber, the 30-year-old German player, was “too fleet of foot and adept with her racket”, defeating her opponent in 65 minutes. Even if Williams couldn’t prevail, her run at Wimbledon is one of the most stupefying stories in sport, said Tim Lewis in The Observer. Not only did she suffer lifethreatening complications after giving birth to her daughter, but she is about to turn 37. Yet across the sport, “players are sticking around for longer”. For the first time at a Grand Slam in the Open era, all four semi-finalists in the men’s tournament were in their 30s. There’s “certainly a financial element” to the thirtysomethings’ success. When John Mcenroe won Wimbledon in 1984, he received £100,000; today, the male and female champions get £2.25m. That pays for the fitness trainers and nutritionists that help players endure – and also, “you’d imagine, supplies a motivation to keep going”.