It is written that Novak Djokovic will be the tennis player with the most titles in the history of the Grand Slam. It seems a matter of time before he surpasses all the records and the first step will be this Sunday, when he faces Matteo Berrettini to add his sixth Wimbledon, the twentieth ‘best’ in total.
His last rival, Denis Shapovalov left the track crying. He could not contain himself after a game in which he could have given much more war, but whenever he had the opportunity to hurt the Serb in his hand, he responded with another bite.
From the beginning he was the rival to beat and nothing has changed since then. Even his position has been strengthened. Of the slippery Djokovic of the first day, the one who gave up his first set of the tournament, there is nothing left. Since that stumble against Jack Draper, he has not lost a single set. It has been imposed solidly and only twice reaching the ‘tie break’.
He has 20 consecutive wins at the All England Club, his best historical streak and can achieve the first clover in the tournament, along with the 2018 and 2019 titles. His background in finals is almost impeccable, with five wins and only one loss, the 2013 against Andy Murray, the day the Scotsman picked up Fred Perry’s legacy 77 years later.
And this title, in addition, would be another stone for the Golden Grand Slam, a unique mark in tennis and that no one has achieved so far. The feat of winning the four Grand Slam and the Olympic gold medal in the same year, only within the reach of the German Steffi Graf so far in 1988. Not even Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have been able to achieve this record, being their top three titles in the same year. In 2004, 2006 and 2007 for the Swiss; and in 2010 for the manacorense.
His passage to glory has only one last obstacle, a Matteo Berrettini who is already history for his country, since he is the first Italian to reach a Wimbledon final. His path has been smooth, without a single ‘top ten’ on the way, but he has been at the highest level for a month. He started with the title at Queen’s, the biggest of his career so far, and has crowned it with this final, which he arrives with only three lost sets and as the best server of the tournament.
The transalpine has placed 101 ‘aces’, 36 more than the second classified, and has only lost the service five times, winning 95 of the 100 service turns he has had. He is opposed by a Djokovic who has managed to break 29% of his opponents’ serves and who has won 38% of the break points he has generated.
The Serbian has in his favor his vast experience in these matches, in addition to a favorable ‘head-to-head’ of two wins to no losses, with the last precedent in the Roland Garros quarter-finals. Berrettini, with which his lack of pressure, before a final that seems decanted for two weeks, helps him to curdle the perfect match. EFE (HN)