In the era of Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal, it is easy to downplay the achievements of Novak Djokovic until you glance at the names he left in his wake by claiming a ninth major title and third Wimbledon crown on Sunday.
Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Fred Perry and Ken Rosewall all sit behind the Serb on tennis’ honors board of Grand Slam champions.
Yet for so much of his career he has been mentioned in a second breath after the virtues of Federer and Nadal have been extolled.
Photo: AFP
It is only now, as Federer’s aging legs begin to creek and Nadal’s battered body lets him down, that Djokovic is getting the recognition that his incredible talents deserve.
His largely dominant 7-6(1), 6-7(10), 6-4, 6-3 victory over Federer showed that his current stranglehold on the men’s game is tight and at 28 years old, there are many more miles in the tank.
“I feel good. I don’t feel old. I have hopefully many more years in front of me,” he said. “I’m going to try to push my own limits and see how far I can go really with titles and with myself playing on this high level.”
Photo: AP
At no point in his near three hours of combat against Federer did he ever truly look in danger of ceding the Wimbledon title that he claimed in a far closer contest against the same player last year.
Even when Federer pinched the second set, it was because a large helping of good fortune came to his rescue with Djokovic passing up seven set points before the Swiss leveled the match.
However, after that, it was only going one way and Djokovic was in no time chewing on the Wimbledon turf in his now familiar celebration.
“I was assured that it is gluten free, it is not processed, completely organic and natural,” Djokovic said.
Djokovic stopped short of ranking his own position in tennis’ historic pantheon of talents — that job was left to his beaten opponent, whose 17 Grand Slams mean, by numbers alone, he tops the tree.
“Novak played not only great today, but the whole two weeks, plus the whole year, plus last year, plus the year before that. So he deserves it,” Federer told the crowd. “He is clearly making a big name for himself, having won as many times now as he has in these different Grand Slams. I am sure he still has many more great years ahead of him.”
In the mixed doubles final on Sunday, Leander Paes of India and Martina Hingis of Switzerland crushed Alexander Peya of Austria and Timea Babos of Hungary 6-1, 6-1 in 40 minutes to claim the title.
Additional reporting by staff writer.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB