2014 WIMBLEDON: Djokovic Outlasts Federer To Win 7th Major

Much to my surprise, Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer 6-7(7) 6-4 7-6(2) 5-7 6-4 to win the 2014 Wimbledon championship and his 7th major championship in his 14th major final. By winning their 35th meeting, Djokovic has now won 17 (and lost 18) of their matches and is 6-all in majors and 1-all in major finals. Djokovic will become World #1 since he improved on his result of losing the Wimbledon final to Andy Murray last year. Federer will rise to World #3.

The match was just shy of four hours long, with many, many changes of momentum throughout. Djokovic got the first set point in the tiebreaker but ended up losing it and the first set. However he earned breakpoints early in the second set and eventually broke and nursed his lead to grab the second set and even the match at 1-set all. The third set was very tight with Federer delivering an incredible serving performance (13 aces) but errors on his usually deadly forehand win cost him the third set tiebreak. In the fourth set Djokovic earned an early break again and nursed his lead to 5-2 when it looked like the match would soon be over. But Federer held serve in the 8th game and when Djokovic served for the match he got down doublebreak point and Federer broke hi for the first time in the match well into its third hour. However, the twists and turns were not done yet. Serving 4-5, Djokovic earned a breakpoint which was championship point and Federer hit a serve very close to the line that was called out. The challenge showed that Federer's serve was shown to be in and ruled an ace. Match point saved. The 7-time Wimbledon champion used this momentum to break Djokovic in the next game and served out the 4th set to force a 5th set in the Wimbledon final for the fourth time since 2007 (all of which featured Federer). In the fifth set, Djokovic served first and saved a break point in the 5th game and finally earned double breakpoint in the 10th game which was also championship point and this time Federer cracked with a backhand error to lose the game, set and match.

Overall it was probably the best match of the year, with Federer hitting 29 aces (5 double faults) and 29 unforced errors overall to his opponent's 27. Djokovic hit 68 winners (only 13 aces) while Federer hit 75 winners (including aces) which indicates Djokovic's better play from the back of the court.

Interestingly, this is the second Wimbledon title for Djokovic and the last time he won it, so did Petra Kvitova, who also won her second Wimbledon title this weekend.