News : Tennis in Wimbledon: Djokovic defeats Federer – Sport

Twelve times Roger Federer stood on the lawn of the Center Courts on the last day of the tournament. Eight times, more often than anyone else since 1877, he won the big Gold Cup. Wimbledon was a green garden of remembrance for him. But on Sunday night after 4:57 hours playing time with the small silver bowl in his right hand, his left leaning in the side, he should rate his match, which had thrilled the audience in its intensity and drama, as he said with a small, wistful smile: "I want to try to forget it."

He could have won this final against Novak Djokovic, his permanent rival from Serbia, against whom he played the 48th duel of the career on Sunday. He had won two match balls in the fifth set, when the audience had already jumped up from their seats and his wife, with excitement in the box, clapped his hands over his face and only dared to blink through his fingers. And yet Federer had to experience how the victory still slipped from the bat.

With 7: 6 (5), 1: 6, 7: 6 (4), 4: 6 and 13:12 (3) Djokovic won a match that was extraordinary for two reasons: Because here are the two opponents, Number one and number three in the world rankings, longer duels in the final than other players in history before. And because they drove each other with relentless energy, merciless precision and brute art beats into the fifth-tiebreaker that had been introduced this year to end unpredictable marathon matches.

Defending champion Djokovic was finally able to record his fifth Wimbledon title, which now puts him on a par with Björn Borg. But he too was exhausted in the end for great triumphal gestures. A short, cool hug on the net, then he pounded on his chest and dropped to his knees to pluck a few stalks of grass.

And then admitted that this was "the most spectacular end game" he ever played: "Unfortunately, one of us had to lose." But to push Djokovic to the limit, it took a giant like Federer, who not only against a counterparty, namely the world number one, took on that day. But against a second, more powerful and far more merciless adversary: ​​time. Federer turns 38 in four weeks; if he had won, he would have been called the oldest winner since men dueled with balls in Grand Slam tournaments.

And so Federer, even though he succumbed to the Serbs, has proved to the world that he can still overcome his age. Already in the first movement it was clear that he could easily beat the five-year-younger Djokovic: the passage lasted almost an hour, was balanced to 6: 6 - with slight optical advantages for Federer, who, to the delight of the audience, the prettier, more daring Balls circled between the lines. In the tiebreak he then pulled a slight backhand and gave a possible lead from the hand.

But that was just the overture: in the second round Federer proved at 6: 1, why he has conquered 20 Grand Slam title in his career. Djokovic held in the third again against, he secured himself in the tiebreak again, without the opponent take the serve. There followed passage four, in which he succeeded Swiss to force the decision set. And then came the final furioso, a 12-minute exchange of blows, point by point, ball by ball, including every square centimeter of the square, at 5: 5, 6: 6.