The final of the 133rd edition of Wimbledon will be remembered forever: Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic took the field and contended for the title. The Swiss was always forced to chase, but managed to bring the game to the fifth and decisive set.
In the last part of the game, Federer broke the Belgrade in the fifteenth game and had the chance to serve for the tournament at 8-7. The Swiss team’s turn followed a clear path up to that fateful 40-15. Federer became human again at the most important moment and wasted two match points by sending off a comfortable forehand and suffering a symbolic passerby.
The rest is history. Djokovic himself recalled his fifth success on the lawns of the All England Club to the microphones of the French broadcaster RMC. In the next two years, in 2020 the tournament was not played, the Belgrade would have left no chance for his rivals.
“On the second match point, I moved early thinking about a cross serve. In the end, however, Roger aimed for the T and I immediately thought the game was over. My answer might not have crossed the net. I was a bit lucky at the time, it’s fair to admit.”
Panatta: “He risks being remembered for that defeat”
In a special aired on Sky Sport, Adriano Panatta focused on the longest final in Wimbledon history. He told: “He played so well that he didn’t need to be bad, paradoxically he risks being remembered more for that defeat than for other victories, because that episode was taken by most people as an injustice because he had played too well.
And lost by bad luck, perhaps also because at the right moment he lacked that pinch of wickedness, the one that Djokovic has and that Nadal has. He was less bad on the pitch, because he played so well that he didn’t need to be bad.” Federer retired last September, during the 2022 edition of the Laver Cup, at the O2 Arena in London.
