Novak Djokovic won his fourth Wimbledon crown in a row last night, klapping Nick Kyrgios’s groot bek toe in four sets 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and 7-6.
Djokovic, who has won the tournament every single tournament since 2018 - with it not being played in 2020 because of Covid 19 - stretched his overall All England Lawn titles record to seven .
Now level with American Pete Sampras in second place at Wimbledon with Roger Federer (with eight titles) leading the way in the Open era, Djokovic also took one step closer to Rafa Nadal’s overall Grand Slam tally of 22.
His win on Sunday gave the Serb his 21st career Grand Slam, with Nadal having withdrawn from his semifinal match against Kyrgios because of injury.
On Sunday, though, Kyrgios played superb tennis in the first set to win 6-4.
With Djokovic never having broken Kyrgios’s serve before this match, when he did so in the fourth game of the second set he not only broke serve, but started chipping away at Kyrgios’s mental strength.
Magnificent.
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The 36-year-old Serb won the set 6-3 and Kyrgios gradually fell apart - swearing at fans and arguing with the umpires throughout the match.
A double fault followed by an unforced error allowed Djokovic to break serve again in the ninth game of the third set, as the Serb held on to take a two-sets-to-one lead (6-4).
A Djokovic bathroom break before the start of the fourth set allowed the 27-year-old Kyrgios time to regroup.
The Australian was a little more subdued in the deciding set and forced a fourth-set tiebreak.
But Kyrgios made a double fault in the first point and then lost it all again.
From there it went downhill, as Djokovic won the tiebreak 7-3 to wrap up the match and the title in four sets.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za