In a spectacular Wimbledon men’s championship finale match on Sunday, the defending champion of 2018 title Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer.
This four hours and 57 minutes match broke the records as well as tested new rules along with this, the match was also the longest men’s singles final in the Wimbledon history and if both the players have scored 12-12 in the final set, the match may perhaps have gone even longer.
The first set turned out to be the bad sign for Federer, as his opponent takes the first set and was won by Djokovic. But the match further became interesting as the pair went back and forth like Djokovic took the first set, and the second took by Federer, Djokovic taking third, and Federer then taking the fourth.
Following the 12-12 fifth set, Djokovic then took the extraordinary tie-breaker 7-3.
Here’s what Roger Federer earlier thinks about taking on Novak Djokovic, “It’s the same like going into a Rafa match. I think the moment you’ve played somebody probably more than 15 times, you know, especially in recent years also a few times, there’s not that much more left out there. Especially you know where the players go when it really matters, how much can you still surprise somebody. At the end of the day, it comes very much down to who’s better on the day, who’s in a better mental place, who’s got more energy left, who’s tougher when it really comes to the crunch. In the tennis, there’s always somebody who’s going to be a little bit better because there are no draws in our sport. It’s always quite brutal sometimes. Don’t want to say always the better player wins, but sometimes it can be tough. Look, I’m excited about the game against Novak. As you said, we’ve played each other so, so much. I don’t mind that, I think it’s more of a clear game plan.”
Djokovic applauded his opponent, and said, “I think that if this is not the most exciting final then it’s definitely in the top two or three of my career against one of the greatest players of all time, Roger, who I respect.”
Federer has been holding the record for most Wimbledon finals appearances, at 12.
Federer told the Telegraph, “You take it on your chin, you move on,” he added “You try to forget, try to take the good things out of this match. There’s just tons of it. Similar to ’08 maybe, I will look back at it and think, ‘Well, it’s not that bad after all.”
Novak Djokovic speaks about his victory that, “If this was not the most exciting final then it was definitely the top two or three. I was up against one of the greatest players of all time, Roger, who I expect a lot. Unfortunately, one player has to lose and we both had our chances. It’s unreal to be two match points down and come back. It’s a bit strange to play a tie-break at 12-all as well. I was hoping to get to the tie-breaks as well. And Roger says he hopes he can inspire others to believe they can do it at 32. I’m one of them. When I was a boy and dreaming to be a tennis player this always has been the tournament for me. I used to make trophies out of different materials in my room and it’s extra special sharing it with my son in the crowd and my parents and my whole team. My wife and daughter are here in London but they are at home. I’ll see them soon. Back to being a dad too, I guess.”
Roger Federer, on the other hand, said, “I will try to forget. It was a great match. It was long, it had everything, I had my chances, so did he. In a way I’m happy. But Novak was great. Well done. I still feel good. I can still stand. Back to dad and husband. It’s all good.”
