Rare are matches when one feels that both the players are winners. The 2019 Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Final was one such match.
The match was played on 14th July 2019 between the two legends of tennis, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. All the matches played between the Big three (Federer, Nadal & Djokovic), are historical. But this one was historical in its own sense. This match was the longest in the history of Wimbledon. The five-hour long match kept everyone guessing till the last minute.
Although both played some excellent tennis, but had Federer reduced the amount of unforced errors which he committed, the result would have been completely different. This was for the very first time that a Wimbledon Final match ended with a tie-breaker. Also, the match witnessed members from the Royal Family as spectators. The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, for the first time, presented the trophy to the winner. Let us have a summary of the match that created history.
Highlights
Set 1
The match started on a positive note for the Swiss, who clinched the first game easily. The Serb then fought back, leveling the score. Federer had a 5-4 lead when the first set was about to end. But to his dismay, Djokovic won the tenth game. The score was equaled tied at 5-5. Although Federer was one game away from winning the first set, it was his errors that allowed Djokovic to overpower Federer. The first set ended with Djokovic winning the tie-break with a 7-5 score.
Set 2
The second set began with Federer bouncing back and taking a 1-0 lead. Federer dominated this set right from the beginning, owing to Djokovic’s errors. It was after Federer’s 4-0 lead that Djokovic managed to win one game but to no avail as Federer made light work of the task and took the second set 6-1.
Set 3
Federer easily took the first game of the following set. But Djokovic fought back by holding his serve. Thus, the score was leveled as 1-1. Playing excellent ground strokes and serving his best, Federer took the third game and taook a 2-1 lead. Taking advantages of Federer’s errors, Djokovic leveled the score at 2-2. At 5-4, with Federer in the lead, the score was 30-30 and he was just short of two points from taking the set away. But Djokovic held his serve and the score was 5-5. The series of Federer winning one game and losing the next continued and by the end of the second set the score was 6-5, with Federer in the lead. But to Djokovic’s good luck the third set ended with him winning the tie-breaker by 7-4.
Set 4
The fourth set was no different. Djokovic won the first game thus taking a 1-0 lead. Without losing a single point, Federer took the next game. Contrary to the previous games, Federer broke Novak’s serve and took a 4-2 lead. Federer took a 5-2 lead but Novak fought back and took the score to 5-4. Federer then took the next game and the fourth set.
Set 5
Playing super cautiously, Novak won the first game of the fifth set. Federer then went 4-2 down, post not being able to break Djokovic’s serve. But Federer did not sit back and won the next two games, thus leveling the score at 4-4. Contrary to the previous sets, this set had Djokovic in a 5-4 lead. Federer then levelled the score to 5-5. At 9-8 Federer was just one point short of winning his 21st Grand Slam, but Novak fought back and took four points in a row. This continued until 12-12. Then the tie-breaker started and Novak dominated the tie-break right from the beginning. Djokovic won the tie-break 7-3.
The match ended with Novak clinching the 2019 Wimbledon Gentlemen’s final, his 16th Grand Slam title, 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3)
