Novak Djokovic Defeats Nick Kyrgios in four sets
On Sunday, Novak Djokovic won his seventh Wimbledon title and 21st Grand Slam title with a four-set victory over Nick Kyrgios, whose challenge quickly unraveled after a blistering start.
Top seed Djokovic won 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) to equal Pete Sampras’ All England Club record of seven titles and move within one of Roger Federer’s men’s record of eight.
The 35-year-old Serbian is now one Slam ahead of Federer in the all-time standings and only one behind Rafael Nadal’s record of 22 majors.
He is also only the fourth man in Open era history to win four consecutive Wimbledon titles, joining Federer, Sampras, and Bjorn Borg.
As the players made their way onto Centre Court, Kyrgios was seen yawning at the top of the All England Club stairs.
But there was no sluggishness when the final began, as Djokovic was blown off the court by his 27-year-old opponent, who was making his debut.
Kyrgios sped through the first set, breaking in the fifth game and winning with his seventh ace of the match.
Along the way, he demonstrated one underarm serve, a “tweener,” and flawless behavior.
Djokovic, the best returner in the game and the tournament’s only undefeated player since 2017, won just four points off Kyrgios’ serve.
The 35-year-old had dropped the first set in three consecutive matches at Wimbledon.
In the third game of the second set, Djokovic won a lung-busting 23-shot rally and broke for a 3-1 lead.
It signaled Kyrgios’ first dark mutterings of the afternoon.
Djokovic then leveled the final by taking his first set off Kyrgios in three meetings, saving four break points.
In the first game of the third set, world number 40 Kyrgios saved two break points.
There was a brief pause in play when a protestor was ejected from the stadium for yelling “Where is Peng Shuai?” in reference to the Chinese women’s tennis star’s well-being.
Kyrgios became even more agitated when he demanded that a fan be removed from the crowd for distracting him during his serve.
“She looks like she’s had 700 drinks, bro,” he told umpire Renaud Lichtenstein.
When he was broken from a 40-0 lead in the ninth game, he was fuming and swearing loudly at his teammates in the player’s box.
With only two unforced errors, Djokovic pounced for a two-sets-to-one lead.
As Kyrgios argued with himself and his supporters, Djokovic cruised to victory, clinching the title with a convincing tiebreak.