Sunday was a day to remember for as he beat Italy’s Matteo Berrettini 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 to move level on 20 majors with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. His win also put him three-quarters of the way to the first calendar Grand Slam of all four majors since 1969. It was also his sixth Wimbledon triumph and third back-to-back at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club.
However, it was not only the Serb whose Sunday was made memorable but also a young spectator at the Centre Court. After the completion of the match and before the presentation started, Novak Djokovic ran to the other side of the court and gifted a girl fan his racket.
#Wimbledon | @DjokerNole pic.twitter.com/BAkVtq81mK— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 11, 2021
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After the match, the young Novak Djokovic fan shared a personalized poster breaking down the 20-time major champion’s name into an acronym of superlatives.
Novak Djokovic may not have got the Mason Mount reaction but love his sprint to find the girl to give his racket to pic.twitter.com/x2ggM44buc— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) July 11, 2021
Djokovic, on Sunday, also became the only fourth man to win three consecutive Wimbledon titles in the Open Era after Federer, Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras.
Djokovic was playing in his 30th Slam final, won his sixth trophy at the All England Club, adding to his nine Australian Opens, two Roland Garros victories, and three US Open titles. If he wins a fourth title in September at New York, he will become only the third man in history to complete the calendar Grand Slam, after Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969).
Following his win, the Serb was congratulated by his long-time rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, with whom he is tied on 20 Grand Slam titles.
Roger Federer who was knocked out of the Wimbledon 2021 in the quarterfinal stage was part of social media’s widespread reaction to Djokovic’s triumph. The Swiss maestro took to Twitter and wrote, “Congrats Novak on your 20th major. I’m proud to have the opportunity to play in a special era of tennis champions. Wonderful performance, well done!"
Congrats Novak on your 20th major. I’m proud to have the opportunity to play in a special era of tennis champions. Wonderful performance, well done!— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) July 11, 2021
Rafael Nadal, who was last seen in action in the French Open where he lost to Novak Djokovic in the semifinal too praised Djokovic on achieving this epic feat. Rafa wrote on Twitter, “Congrats @DjokerNole on this amazing achievement. 20 Grand Slam titles is huge and it is amazing that we are 3 players tied on this. Well done and, again, congrats to you and your team for this!"
Congrats @DjokerNole on this amazing achievement. 20 Grand Slam titles is huge and it is amazing that we are 3 players tied on this. Well done and, again, congrats to you and your team for this!@Wimbledon— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) July 11, 2021
Novak Djokovic’s win at the Wimbledon has also set him on course of a calendar-year Golden Slam — winning all four grand slam in a calendar year along with the Gold medal at the Olympics.
Steffi Graf is the only tennis player to have achieved this unique feat in 1998.
However, when asked about Olympic participation, Djokovic said that there’s a 50/50 chance of him playing.
“I’ll have to think about it. As I said, my plan was always to go to the Olympic Games. But right now I’m a little bit divided. It’s kind of 50/50 because of what I heard in the last couple of days," said Djokovic.
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