2014 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles final

Wimbledon Men's Final

Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Roger Federer (4)
Set 1 2 3 4 5 Novak Djokovic 67 6 77 5 6 Roger Federer 79 4 64 7 4
Date	Sunday 6 July 2014
Tournament	The Championships, Wimbledon
Location	London, Great Britain

The 2014 Wimbledon Championships Men's Singles final was the championship tennis match of the Men's Singles tournament at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships. A significant part of the Djokovic–Federer rivalry, it pitted Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer against each other in a Grand Slam final for the second time.

After 3 hours and 56 minutes, top seed Djokovic defeated fourth-seeded Federer in five sets to win the match. By winning the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, Djokovic not only won for the second time, but also reclaimed the world number one ranking from Rafael Nadal at the conclusion of the tournament.^[1]

Background

The match took place on the final day of the 2014 edition of the 13-day Wimbledon Championships, held every June and July. Novak Djokovic was world number two entering Wimbledon, but was seeded first ahead of Rafael Nadal due to Wimbledon employing a grass-court seeding system which takes into account recent results on grass. Djokovic had reached the semi-finals in 2012 and final in 2013, whilst Nadal had fallen in the second and first rounds respectively.^[2] Roger Federer, on the other hand, entered the Championships ranked and seeded fourth, and reached the final after having been upset by Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round in 2013.^[3]

Both players had to overcome numerous tough matches to reach the final: Djokovic was almost pushed to five sets by Radek Štěpánek in the second round,^[4] was two sets to one down against Marin Čilić in the quarter-finals before rallying to win in five sets^[5] and also required four sets to defeat Grigor Dimitrov in the semi-finals.^[6] By contrast, Federer only dropped one set (and his own serve) in his quarter-final against countryman Stan Wawrinka.^[7]

Going into the final, Federer had not appeared in a major final since two years prior when he had won Wimbledon in 2012. In 2013, Federer failed to reach any of the major finals for the first time since 2002, and some commentators doubted whether he would ever appear in a major final again. Federer was asked if he felt that he could still win a major, "I'm just really pleased that I'm back strong at Wimbledon. Last year I didn't even come close. I was very deflated leaving Wimbledon on that note. I'm happy I'm sort of physically back where I can put myself in contention." Upon reaching the final, Federer was bidding to win his 80th career title, 18th major overall and 8th Wimbledon title, which would have broken the record that he shares with Pete Sampras for the most Wimbledon wins at seven.^[8]

Djokovic too had not won a Grand Slam since the Australian Open of 2013, over a year and a half prior, and was going into the final having lost 5 of the previous 6 Grand Slam finals that he had played in. He entered the championship match looking for his second Wimbledon title after previously winning in 2011, and was seeking redemption after losing in the previous year's final to Andy Murray in straight sets.^[9] As such, Djokovic was determined to get back into the win column. Djokovic described his setbacks in Grand Slams, "There is plenty of motivation from my side to win this Grand Slam final after losing last three out of four. [sic] It would mean a lot mentally for me." As a result of the circumstances, both men relished the challenge and were focused on playing a high-quality match.^[10]

Match

Novak Djokovic won the coin toss and elected to serve first. The first set saw neither player force a break point, though there were a few games that went to deuce. A tiebreak was required to decide the first set and it saw Federer come from two separate set points down to take it 9–7. At 51 minutes, the first set alone lasted just four minutes less than the entire women's singles final.^[1]

Despite falling early in the second set, Djokovic managed to break Federer's serve early in the third game. The set remained on serve from there and Djokovic leveled the match at one-set all. The lone break of serve in the second set was only the second time all tournament that Federer had been broken. The third set followed a similar pattern to that of the first; again a tiebreak was required to decide it as neither man would yield his serve, and it was Djokovic who would win the set and go two-sets-to-one up. After three sets, neither man was giving anything away as the unforced errors remained very low. Federer's serving kept him in the match but he had still been unable to gain even a single break point opportunity as Djokovic's own serving display continued to hold up strong.^[11]

In the fourth set, Djokovic again broke early to lead 3–1. From there, Federer broke Djokovic's serve for the first time in match to get back on serve at 3–2; only to be broken again in his service game which saw Djokovic regain the lead at 4–2. Djokovic consolidated his break this time to take a commanding 5–2 lead and was a game away from the title, leaving Federer to serve to stay in the match. After Federer held serve in the eighth game, Djokovic served for the win at 5–3 and seemed poised to win the title in four sets. Federer would come back from the brink of defeat to break Djokovic for the second time and put the set back on serve. Then, in the tenth game, Djokovic earned a championship point, which Federer saved with an ace which was initially called out but ruled in after a successful challenge by the Hawk-Eye review system. Federer then levelled the set at 5–5 and from there, he broke Djokovic again for the third time in the set and then held his serve to win five games in a row and claim the fourth set 7–5.^[12] The Wimbledon final went to a fifth set for the first time since 2009.^[13]

Djokovic served to begin the fifth. Both men held serve comfortably until 3–3, when Federer was able to muster a break point but could not convert it after a long rally. Djokovic was able to hold and go ahead 4–3, and in the next game, found himself at 40–15 with 2 break points. Federer fought them off to level the match at 4–4. In the next game, Federer sent an overhead smash into the net that would have given him a 15–30 opening had he made it. Djokovic pounced on the error to hold serve and go ahead 5–4. Finally in the tenth game, Djokovic earned another two championship points after Federer sent a forehand long at 15-30. There was no ace this time as Federer faulted on championship point and was forced into a second serve. Djokovic took control of the ensuing rally and won Wimbledon after Federer netted a backhand to conclude the contest.^[14][15]

Statistics

_Source

Significance

• This was the first Grand Slam final since the 2009 US Open not to feature either Andy Murray or Rafael Nadal.^[21]
• By defeating Roger Federer in the final, Novak Djokovic became the third man, after Nadal and Juan Martín del Potro, to defeat Federer in a Grand Slam final, and the second after Nadal to defeat Federer in a Wimbledon final.^[21]
• In his nine Wimbledon finals until 2014, Federer has only lost two of them. Both of them required a fifth and deciding set in order for his opponent to defeat him, and in both matches Federer had to save a match point in the fourth set. Both of those finals ended in similar fashion with Federer hitting the ball into the net. In 2008, the match ended when Federer netted a forehand after the ball took an awkward bounce.^[22] In 2014, the match ended when Federer netted a backhand hit from an awkward position.^[23]
• With this win, Djokovic became the only man to beat Federer at least once at every Grand Slam tournament. Federer is the only player who has beaten Djokovic at every Grand Slam event, having achieved that feat at 2012 Wimbledon Championships.

See also

• Djokovic–Federer rivalry

Notes

References

External links

• The whole match on YouTube
• Match Report, Official Wimbledon website
• Match Statistics, Official Wimbledon website