Wimbledon 2019: Federer misses his 9th title

After two weeks of exciting and entertaining matches on Wimbledon Courts with some curiosities, the final match was waiting for us on Sunday with the two best players in the world: Novak Djokovic (1) and Roger Federer (2). And it was to be an impressive match. This was largely due to Roger Federer, who announced the day before that he had virtually nothing to lose and would give everything to win the trophy, after all, at the age of 37 and 38 in August, he is not getting any younger.

Federer dominant, Djokovic solid
And as you know Roger Federer, he played dominantly from the start, with strong serves and fast advances to the net, which he finished with winners. But Djokovic was not just anyone, he is not number 1 in the world for nothing. The precision with which he places balls and his running strengths, with which he fetches all balls, are unique. You can't compare the game of the two with the games before: The two play in a league of their own, with room for Nadal at most. For his part, the crowd was clearly on the side of the Swiss, who was carried by the spectators. And he rewarded this with impressive winners with which he beat Djokovic. But Djokovic's baseline game exemplary and super precise, very hard to crack. Accordingly, the first set was hard-fought and close. It was only in the tie-break that Djokovic was able to break Federer and win the set. A first preliminary decision? No, hardly, because in the following set Djokovic went downright, made stupid mistakes and was broken twice by Federer, which led to an impressive 6:1 for Federer. Set equalizer.

Back to the first sentence
As if to repeat the first set, the two played the game of the first set again in the third. Strong baseline play from Djokovic, strong "surf and volley" from Federer with a repeat of the tie-break in favor of the Serb. Now Federer was behind again and had to win both following sets if he wanted to lift the trophy. That's what you call pressure. But Federer really had nothing to lose now and quickly got a break in the fourth set. Djokovic still managed to go from 2:4 to 4:5, but it was not enough to fend off the 6:4 in favor of Federer. The last and decisive point, how could it be otherwise, was again won by a strong volley from Federer.

The 5th set: fight to the extreme
Before the start of the tournament, the rules were changed so that the last set can be played to a maximum of 12:12 sets and then the decision must be sought in the tie-break. The reason for this is said to have been last year's semi-final match of 2018 finalist Kevin Anderson, who had to play to 24:26 in the semi-finals and therefore allegedly came into the final completely exhausted. However, the rule never had to be applied until the final match, the highest of the feelings was an 8:6 in the fifth set in the previous matches. But in the men's final 2019, the rule was applied for the first time, because the encounter of the two was so close that also here the tie-break had to decide for the third time. Annoying especially for Federer fans and of course for himself, was the fact that Roger Federer twice had a match point and "only" needed to convert it and then failed to do so. Exemplary also the twelfth set of Djokovic, which he could hardly win, x times Federer had gained the advantage and would have been up by a hair at 12:11 in his favor to 13:11, but the Serb never gave up, admirable. The tenacity and perseverance of the two exceptional athletes was simply phenomenal. And here, too, it was to be just like the previous sets. In the tie-break, Djokovic managed a mini-break, which he did not give up. At 6:3 in the tie-break, Federer served to catch up again, but Djokovic's return unintentionally parried Federer with the wood and the ball flew up into the air. Gone. But no cheering or yelling from Djokovic and Federer also quite calm. Djokovic couldn't believe the match and his victory and Federer couldn't believe his loss, because it has to be said that Federer was stronger, better, more present and more dominant throughout the match. He made more winners, showed fabulous serves and unique volleys, but that was of no use to him in the end, because it was the result that counted in the end. And there Djokovic always worked well with calmness and consistency to win in all tie-breaks - there were their three - and thus win the match.

The final of Wimbledon 2019 was one of the most exciting and entertaining in the history of the tournament with two worthy opponents playing the best tennis of the present.