2021 Wimbledon Recap: Djokovic Wins Record-Tying 20th Major, Barty Claims First Wimbledon Title
Djokovic Beats Berrettini, Wins 20th Grand Slam Title
Novak Djokovic drew even with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer for the most Grand Slam titles all-time as the Serb defeated Italy’s Matteo Berrettini to win the Wimbledon title and earn his 20th career major trophy.
“I consider myself [the] best, and I believe that I am the best, otherwise I wouldn’t be talking confidently about winning slams and making history,” said Djokovic. “But whether I’m the greatest of all-time or not, I leave that debate to other people. I said before that it’s very difficult to compare the eras of tennis. We have different racquets, technology, balls, courts. It’s just completely different conditions that we’re playing in, so it’s very hard to compare tennis, say, from 50 years ago to today. But I am extremely honored to be part of the conversation.”
The 34-year-old Djokovic faced a big challenge against the hard-hitting Berettinni, who entered Sunday’s final playing excellent tennis, and who had the serve to potentially give Djokovic problems. But the Serb raced out to a 5-2 lead and seemed to be cruising towards an opening set victory, only to see Berrettini break him as served for the set, and eventually force a tiebreak. The Italian took the tiebreak and moved in front first.
But Djokovic responded with a break to start the second set, and never looked back. He was in control from that point forward, winning his sixth Wimbledon title by the score of 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.
“I’ve always kind of believed that I could play my best tennis in Grand Slams, and give myself a good chance to win any slam on any surface because I know what I’m capable of. I know I have a very complete game and that has proven to be successful on all surfaces in the past,” added Djokovic. “It’s really fortunate for me and incredible that it’s all coming together in the same year. That’s something that I didn’t expect, but I always dream of achieving the biggest things in [our] sport.”
Barty Raises Second Major Trophy
Australia’s Ashleigh Barty became just the third Australian woman in the Open Era to win Wimbledon on Saturday as the world number one defeated Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3.
“It was the most incredible feeling I think I’ve ever experienced on a tennis court,” said Barty. “There was certainly disbelief. I think I’ve worked so hard my whole career with my team and with people that mean the most to me to try and achieve my goals and my dreams. To be able to do that today was incredible.”
Barty jumped ahead early, winning the match’s first 14 points to take the 4-0 advantage, and went on to comfortably win the opening set. She had an opportunity to serve for the title at 6-5 in the second set, but Pliskova dug in to force a tiebreak, which she would eventually win and force the championship into a deciding third set for the first time since 2012.
An early break in the third proved to be too much for Pliskova to overcome, however, and Barty remained steady throughout the decider.
“I think trying to serve out the match in the second set, I gave [Pliskova] a look in,” said Barty. “She grabbed it with both hands. I think being able to reset at the start of the third was really important, just for me to continue to turn up each and every point. That’s all I was really focusing on; just trying to do the best I could every given point regardless of what the score line was.”
Barty, a French Open champion in 2019, is only the fourth player in the Open Era to win both a Junior Wimbledon title, and the senior one, joining Ann Jones, Martina Hingis and Amelie Mauresmo.
