Novak Djokovic battled past Roger Federer in the longest Wimbledon final in history to winning his fifth title in one of the most dramatic matches ever witnessed, Djokovic became the first player to win a singles match on a deciding tie-break.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic captured his fifth crown at The Championships, Wimbledon, on Sunday with a thrilling 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 13-12(3) victory over second seed Roger Federer, the eight-time former title winner from Switzerland, in 4 hours and 55 minutes on Centre Court. Federer had two championship points at 8-7, 40/15 on serve, in the fifth set that lasted one hour and 50 minutes.
As the first men’s singles match of The Championships edged closer to a deciding set at 12-12 in the fifth set, Djokovic was relieved to get out of dangerous in the 23rd game. Having led 40/0, he let slip four straight points, but battled to save one break point with an approach to the net that forced Federer to hit a backhand slice wide. Timely first serves paid dividends, in addition to a high volley winner on a second break point, as the pressure shifted once again to Federer.
Federer had hoped to follow up his emotional semi-final victory over Rafael Nadal by completing the double over his other great rival for the first time at a grand slam and fought back well having twice been a set down but this will be one of his most painful losses.
Djokovic has now won four out of the last five major tournaments, taking his overall tally to 16 and making Federer’s record of 20 seem ever more within reach.
A volley error by Federer on the third point of the tie-break handed Djokovic the early advantage and he held his nerve to join Sweden’s Bjorn Borg and Great Britain’s Laurence Doherty as a five-time Wimbledon champion
