TENNIS WIMBLEDON 2014 – Novak Djokovic once again showed true grit when his back was up against the wall and the momentum seemed to be shifted well out of his reach. The 6-time major champion fought hard against the young tenacious spirit of Grigor Dimitrov to reach his third Wimbledon final. Cordell Hackshaw
Results, Order of Play, Draws and Interviews from The Championships
Novak Djokovic once again showed true grit when his back was up against the wall and the momentum seemed to be shifted well out of his reach. The 6-time major champion fought hard against the young tenacious spirit of Grigor Dimitrov to reach his third Wimbledon final. Djokovic did well to win this match 6-4 3-6 7-62 7-67 in just over 3 hours as there were moments when Dimitrov looked like he was going to be in his first major final. Although this was not an epic match by any stretch of the imagination, it was however, a match that showed two great competitors battling their hardest for a highly desired prize. They slipped and slid across Centre Court defending points as though life depended on it. In the end, it would be Djokovic left standing on top displaying even more so why he would be one of the sport’s legends.
Dimitrov served to open the match and was showing himself to be up to the challenge of taking another top player. He kept it even till the 5th game when the Bulgarian played a most sloppy game and was broken at love. Therefore, instead of him going up 3-2, it was Djokovic who would serve for a 4-2 lead. Djokovic maintained this lead and served out the set 6-4 in 27 minutes. Djokovic carried this momentum into the 2nd set as he broke Dimitrov and went up 3-1. However, Dimitrov finally got his act together and reeled off 5 straight games to take the set 6-3. Now the match was even. Djokovic was looking baffled and beside himself. Nearly all this matches here at this year’s Wimbledon seemed to involve him “complicating” his life and this was no different.
In the 3rd set, things remained on serve although Djokovic had to save a break point in the middle of the set. It seemed that Dimitrov had the momentum in the match and he was going to take the breaker. However, in the breaker, Dimitrov fizzled as Djokovic earned the minibreak to go up 4-2. Then Dimitrov double faulted to give Djokovic a 5-2 lead with two serves to close it out. Djokovic did not muck about as he did earlier in the set. With the lead in hand and two serves, he closed out the breaker 7-2 points to take the set 7-62.
In the 4th set, even at 1-1, Dimitrov played one of the most inexplicable games seen this tournament. He threw in three consecutive double faults and then on a 2nd serve point, he pushed the forehand long to be broken at love. Djokovic not to be outdone by this bizarre play, allowed himself to be broken immediately to get back on serve 2-2. The match stayed even on terms as both players fought off several break points to force another tiebreaker.
Dimitrov who had set point in the 10th game, rebounded from the missed opportunity to earn himself 3 more set points up 6-3 in the breaker. Djokovic came up with the big serves to erase two of those set points. It was now 6-5 Dimitrov. This match was surely heading to a 5th set. However, it seemed that Dimitrov had other ideas. He played a couple of poor points including double faulting yet again which now saw him down match point; from 6-3 Dimitrov to 7-6 Djokovic. Djokovic then decided foolishly to serve and volley on match point and sure enough it was now 7-7. Djokovic would earn a 2nd match point 8-7. It was now Dimitrov’s turn to act silly down match point. He too tried the serve and volley ploy at such a crucial stage but Djokovic read it and picked off the easy forehand pass for the win 6-4 3-6 7-6 7-6.
It would be hard to pick apart this match from the statistics. Both men served relatively well. Djokovic won 73% of his 1st serve points and 56% of his 2nd serve. Dimitrov won 82% of his 1st serve and 45% of his 2nd serve. There was not much separating them in the winners to errors ratio as Djokovic had 45 winners to 26 errors and Dimitrov 48 to 33. However, the key to this match was really both players not capitalizing on their opportunities to take full control of the match. There were many instances where either player when out in front, lose focus and allowed his opponent back into the match. Dimitrov double faulting at inopportune times, 8 in total for the match, would be what he will take away from this match. Djokovic, after the match stated, “I was frustrated because I, again, allowed my opponent to come back to the match. I was a set and a break up and, again, made some unforced errors and gave my opponent today a hope that he can win the match. That’s something that I definitely cannot allow myself in the finals against Roger.” Djokovic will play Roger Federer in the men’s final on Sunday. The two played here once before in the 2012 semifinals. Federer won that match went on to win the title.
