Tennis Atlantic

Novak Djokovic Lifts Fourth Wimbledon Title With Straight Set Win Against Kevin Anderson
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

Novak Djokovic scored a statement win against an exhausted Kevin Anderson to lift his 4th Wimbledon title and show the entire world he’s fully back from the injury woes that have dogged him since last season. Djokovic has moved into a solo 4th on the all time Grand Slam singles record for men, with 13 slams overall.

In the final it was all Djokovic, in just 30 minutes he raced to the opening set 6-2 breaking Anderson twice, and ensuring he got off to the best possible start. Anderson, normally reliant on his serve and needing to win almost all of his service games to notch the upset, couldn’t raise his level in the second set. Djokovic secured another double break to take it 6-2 and go up 2 sets to 0 in a brisk manner.

The third set was the only competitive one of the contest, Anderson raised his level on serve and got sniffs at set point in two different Djokovic service games (4-5 and 5-6). Djokovic erased them and then raced to a tiebreak win 7-6(3) in the third and final set for a 6-2 6-2 7-6 victory. It wasn’t a classic final, but for Djokovic, it’s a memorable one as he’ll return to the ATP 10.

Anderson, despite suffering another disappointing Grand Slam final defeat, has secured his first ever top 5 ranking (moving to the 5th spot) as the 32 year old defeated Gael Monfils, Roger Federer, and John Isner in a marathon second week to reach the final. He upset Federer from 2 sets to love down as Federer withered away against Anderson’s clutch, aggressive tennis that resulted in a 13-11 5th set. Against Isner it was a classic battle of great servers as Anderson finally prevailed 26-24 in the 5th set, a match that was the second longest in Wimbledon history.

Isner had previously beaten Stefanos Tsitsipas and Milos Raonic to reach the semis, his best ever result at Wimbledon. Rafael Nadal, the other losing semifinalist defeated Jiri Vesely and Juan Martin Del Potro to reach the semis, with Del Potro finally succumbing in 5 sets. It was Nadal’s best Wimbledon in years and over two days he gave Djokovic all he could handle in the semifinal, with Novak prevailing on Saturday 10-8 in the 5th set.

Djokovic also paced himself to wins against Karen Khachanov and Kei Nishikori in the second week, and now looks set to take the US Open Series by storm.

Mike Bryan and Jack Sock, who is struggling mightily in singles, combined to win the doubles title, defeating Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus in 5 sets of tremendous doubles action.