WIMBLEDON, July 11: Novak Djokovic tied Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal by claiming his 20th Grand Slam title Sunday, coming back to beat Matteo Berrettini 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in the Wimbledon final. The No. 1 -ranked Djokovic earned a third consecutive championship at the All England Club and sixth overall.
He adds that to nine titles at the Australian Open, three at the U.S. Open and two at the French Open to equal his two rivals for the most majors won by a man in tennis history.
“I have to pay a great tribute to Rafa and Roger. They are legends. Legends of our sport. They are the two most important players that I ever faced in my career,” said Djokovic, the 34-year-old from Serbia.
The 34-year-old from Serbia is now the only man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win the first three major tournaments in a season. He can aim for a calendar-year Grand Slam something last accomplished by a man when Laver did it 52 years ago at the U.S. Open, which starts Aug. 30.
This was Djokovic’s 30th major final among men, only Federer has played more, 31 and the first for Berrettini, a 25-year-old from Italy who was seeded No. 7.
Berrettini came in with a tournament-high 101 aces and that’s where his game is built: free points off the serve and quick-strike forehands that earned him the nickname Hammer.
Djokovic took leads of 4-1 in the first set, 4-0 in the second and 3-1 in the third. But in the first, especially, he faltered in ways he rarely does, wasting a set point and getting broken when he served for it at 5-3.
In the ensuing tiebreaker, they were tied at 3-all, but Berrettini won three of the next four points with forehands, and closed it out with a 138 mph ace.
He strutted to the changeover and many in the full house of nearly 15,000 rose to celebrate along with him.
Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Elise Mertens won the women’s doubles title at Wimbledon on Saturday after saving two match points against Russian duo Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Vesnina. The third-seeded Hsieh and Mertens won 3-6, 7-5, 9-7 on Centre Court. They clinched a back-and-forth third set when Hsieh hit a backhand winner to break Vesnina’s serve.
It was the third Wimbledon doubles title for Hsieh, all with different partners. It was a first for Mertens, who has also won the Australian Open and U.S. Open doubles.
Croatian duo Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic lived up to their billing as the world’s top doubles team by winning Wimbledon to secure their biggest win of a dominant season.
The top-seeded pair beat Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-4, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-5 in a final that finished close to 10:20 p.m. (2120 GMT) under the roof on Centre Court.
They had a first match point at 5-4 in the fourth set then converted their second to break Granollers’ serve in the final game.
They are the first Croatian duo to win the doubles at Wimbledon and did it 20 years after Goran Ivanisevic won the men’s singles final.
Pavic also won the Australian Open in 2018 and the U.S. Open last year with different partners. It was Mektic’s first Grand Slam title.
They enter the Tokyo Olympics as the big favorite for the gold medal.
Britain’s Neal Skupski and American Desirae Krawczyk overcame stiff opposition by the British duo of Joe Salisbury and Harriet Dart 6-2, 7-6 to win the mixed doubles final.
Also, American tennis player of Indian-origin Samir Banerjee on Sunday lifted the Wimbledon boys singles title with a straight set win over compatriot Victor Lilov, here. Playing only his second junior Grand Slam, 17-year-old won 7-5 6-3 in the final that lasted in one hour 22 minutes. Banerjee’s parents had moved to America in 1980s. (Agencies)
