Novak Djokovic recently took a trip down memory lane to relive his most satisfying Grand Slam career win at the 2019 Wimbledon final.
It's been four and half years since that epic showdown between two of the greatest Wimbleodnc champions in history. Djokovic triumphed by the unique scoreline of 7-6, 1-6, 7-6, 4-6, 13-12 over Roger Federer after four hours and 57 minutes in a match belonging to the first page of the tennis classics.
Djokovic became just the second man in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam after saving championship points (the other being Gaston Gaudio at the 2004 French Open). If you had looked at the stats without watching the actual match, it would be tough to digest the outcome.
Federer aced almost every relevant metric. He hit a staggering 94 winners in the match - almost twice as many as Djokovic managed and, overall, won 218 to 203 points. The Swiss broke Djokovic's serve seven times and even served for the match late in the fifth set.
During a fascinating interview with CBS News, Djokovic admitted that Federer outplayed him for large portions of that match, but when the margins were as thin as a razor blade, he found a way to perfect his game and stay solid mentally.
Djokovic won all three sets in the final in tiebreaks, including the first-ever 12-all fifth-set breaker. Remarkably, the Serb committed a grand total of zero unforced errors in all three tiebreak sets he played in the final. It was a telling reminder of why Djokovic's mental toughness is something you cannot teach.
"That happened in 2019 when I played finals of Wimbledon that, that marathon match, epic match with Roger. I beat him 13-12 in the fifth set. The sets that I won were all won in tie breaks, seven-six, seven-six, 13-12. And overall, if you see stats, he was far better player in every aspect."
"But I won the match. And so that actually tells you that you can still win if you pick and choose in which moments of the match you're peaking, and you're playing your best when it matters."
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