Wimbledon, England
Two weeks ago, the men’s tournament at Wimbledon started like everyone expected. Roger Federer kept winning without losing a set. So did Rafael Nadal. No one thought much of Novak Djokovic. He looked better than he had in recent months, but everyone assumed he still wasn’t like his old self. Too many errors. Too many weak serves. And too little confidence. Djokovic hadn’t won a tournament in more than a year and hadn’t captured a major title since the French Open in 2016.
Wimbledon itself treated Djokovic like an afterthought. Gone were the days when Djokovic, then ranked number one in the world, played almost all of his matches on Centre Court, the most prestigious stadium in tennis history. His first round was scheduled on the No. 1 Court. In the second round, he played on No. 2 Court. He only got to Centre Court for his third-round match because his opponent, Kyle Edmund, is British. The crowd was eager to frustrate Djokovic. At one point in the match, the chair umpire gave Djokovic a time violation for taking too long to serve. He couldn’t resist arguing, while everyone in the stands hissed and booed.
“They were coughing and whistling while I was bouncing the ball,” Djokovic said. “I didn’t deserve to be treated as I was treated by certain individuals. That’s one thing I didn’t like.”
Djokovic soon went on to beat Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals, but not without another argument. This one came when he received a warning after he lightly bounced his racquet on the grass. “Nishikori did the same in the fourth set and he didn’t get a warning,” Djokovic said later. “That’s not fair.”
From that moment I thought Djokovic might be back after all. His swagger and defiance had returned; so had his expectation of winning. Djokovic has always wanted love from those who adore tennis, but on court, misused rules and talented opponents usually motivate him.
Why did Djokovic decline and how did he come back? I’d never seen him look so uncertain and so lacking in resolve as when he lost his last set at the 2017 French Open 6-0. His elbow was part of the problem; after losing at Wimbledon last year, he took off the rest of the season with the hope of recovering. It didn’t work, and so he had surgery in February—and came back too soon and continued to struggle. But at Wimbledon, he looked different from the start. And then he passed the hardest test of them all: He beat Nadal in a classic match that began late Friday evening and resumed the next day. Djokovic and Nadal each hit 73 winners. They rallied long and hit the ball in corners and on lines. In the end, after 5 hours and 17 minutes, Djokovic won 195 points to Nadal’s 191.
“It’s been a long 15 months for me, trying to overcome different obstacles,” Djokovic said after the match. “So to be where I am at the moment is quite, quite satisfying.”
The men’s final at Wimbledon was no contest. Kevin Anderson, the 6-foot-8 slugger from South Africa, was exhausted after two five-set matches, one to topple Federer and another to beat American John Isner. (The latter match took 6 hours and 36 minutes, the longest ever on Centre Court.) In the final, Djokovic dominated from the beginning. And when he faced five set points late in the third set, he protected himself with aggressive play, not luck. The victory—his fourth Wimbledon title in all and his 13th Grand Slam title—couldn’t have pleased him more. After he won, he watched the older of his two children, 3-year-old Stefan, appear in the stands.
“It’s really hard to compare this year’s victory and trophy with any of the other three because they’re all special,” Djokovic said. “But if I can pick one, that would be probably the first one and this year’s winning because my son was at the trophy ceremony.”
As for Serena Williams, she lost the final against Angelique Kerber, yet this Wimbledon was the most impressive—and inspiring—of her career. After having a child last September, Williams has returned to tennis and performed better at Wimbledon—just her fourth event of the year—than anyone could hope for. Williams has 23 Grand Slam titles to her name, one shy of Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24. I have no doubt Williams will get there, even though she’ll turn 37 in September. She wouldn’t say the same, but she sounded like anything was possible.
“I didn’t know a couple of months ago where I was, where I would be, how I would do, how I would be able to come back,” Williams said. “I feel like I have a ways to go. This is literally just the beginning.”
