2014 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles final
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The 2014 Wimbledon Championships Men's Singles final was the championship
tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
match of the Men's Singles tournament at the
2014 Wimbledon Championships The 2014 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 128th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held fro ...
. A significant part of the
Djokovic–Federer rivalry The tennis rivalry between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer is considered one of the greatest rivalries in men's tennis history and is one of the most prolific in the Open era, second only to the Djokovic–Nadal rivalry. Djokovic and Federer ...
, it pitted
Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
and
Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
against each other in a Grand Slam final for the second time. After 3 hours and 56 minutes, top seed Djokovic defeated fourth-seeded Federer in five sets to win the match. By winning the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, Djokovic not only won for the second time, but also reclaimed the world number one ranking from
Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
at the conclusion of the tournament.Wimbledon: Novak Djokovic beats Roger Federer in five-set spectacular final for seventh career major title
''ABC Grandstand Sport'', 7 July 2014


Background

The match took place on the final day of the 2014 edition of the 13-day Wimbledon Championships, held every June and July. Novak Djokovic was world number two entering Wimbledon, but was seeded first ahead of
Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
due to Wimbledon employing a grass-court seeding system which takes into account recent results on grass. Djokovic had reached the semi-finals in
2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
and final in
2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
, whilst Nadal had fallen in the second and first rounds respectively. Roger Federer, on the other hand, entered the Championships ranked and seeded fourth, and reached the final after having been upset by
Sergiy Stakhovsky Sergiy Eduardovych Stakhovsky ( uk, Сергій Едуардович Стаховський, ; born January 6, 1986) is a Ukrainian former professional tennis player. Stakhovsky turned professional in 2003 and played mostly at the Challenger le ...
in the second round in 2013. Djokovic had to overcome numerous tough matches to reach the final: He was almost pushed to five sets by
Radek Štěpánek Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...
in the second round, was two sets to one down against
Marin Čilić Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. Čilić has won 20 ATP Tour singles titles, including a major at the 2014 US Open. He was also runner-up at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and the 2018 Austral ...
in the quarter-finals before rallying to win in five sets and also required four sets to defeat
Grigor Dimitrov Grigor Dimitrov ( bg, Григор Димитров, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved on ...
in the semi-finals. By contrast, Federer only dropped one set (and his own serve) in his quarter-final against countryman
Stan Wawrinka Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlight ...
. Going into the final, Federer had not appeared in a major final since two years prior when he had won Wimbledon in 2012. In 2013, affected by back troubles, Federer failed to reach any of the major finals for the first time since 2002 and some commentators doubted whether he would ever appear in a major final again. Federer was asked if he felt that he could still win a major, "I'm just really pleased that I'm back strong at Wimbledon. Last year I didn't even come close. I was very deflated leaving
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...
on that note. I'm happy I'm sort of physically back where I can put myself in contention." Upon reaching the final, Federer was bidding to win his 80th career title, 18th major overall and 8th Wimbledon title, which would have broken the record that he shares with
Pete Sampras Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...
for the most Wimbledon wins at seven. Djokovic too had not won a Grand Slam since the Australian Open of 2013, over a year and a half prior, and was going into the final having lost 5 of the previous 6 Grand Slam finals that he had played in. He entered the championship match looking for his second Wimbledon title after previously winning in 2011, and was seeking redemption after losing in the previous year's final to
Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray h ...
. As such, Djokovic was determined to get back into the win column. Djokovic described his setbacks in Grand Slams, "There is plenty of motivation from my side to win this Grand Slam final after losing last three out of four. It would mean a lot mentally for me." As a result of the circumstances, both men relished the challenge and were focused on playing a high-quality match.


Match

Novak Djokovic won the coin toss and elected to serve first. The first set saw neither player force a break point, though there were a few games that went to deuce. A tiebreak was required to decide the first set and it saw Federer come from two separate set points down to take it 9–7. At 51 minutes, the first set alone lasted just four minutes less than the entire women's singles final. Despite falling early in the second set, Djokovic managed to break Federer's serve early in the third game. The set remained on serve from there and Djokovic leveled the match at one-set all. The lone break of serve in the second set was only the second time all tournament that Federer had been broken. The third set followed a similar pattern to that of the first; again a tiebreak was required to decide it as neither man would yield his serve, and it was Djokovic who would win the set and go two-sets-to-one up. After three sets, neither man was giving anything away as the unforced errors remained very low. Federer's serving kept him in the match but he had still been unable to gain even a single break point opportunity as Djokovic's own serving display continued to hold up strong. In the fourth set, Djokovic again broke early to lead 3–1. From there, Federer broke Djokovic's serve for the first time in match to get back on serve at 3–2; only to be broken again in his service game which saw Djokovic regain the lead at 4–2. Djokovic consolidated his break this time to take a commanding 5–2 lead and was a game away from the title, leaving Federer to serve to stay in the match. After Federer held serve in the eighth game, Djokovic served for the win at 5–3 and seemed poised to win the title in four sets. Federer would come back from the brink of defeat to break Djokovic for the second time and put the set back on serve. Then, in the tenth game, Djokovic earned a championship point, which Federer saved with an ace which was initially called out but ruled in after a successful challenge by the
Hawk-Eye Hawk-Eye is a computer vision system used in numerous sports such as cricket, tennis, Gaelic football, badminton, hurling, rugby union, association football and volleyball, to visually track the trajectory of the ball and display a profile o ...
review system. Federer then levelled the set at 5–5 and from there, he broke Djokovic again for the third time in the set and then held his serve to win five games in a row and claim the fourth set 7–5. The Wimbledon final went to a fifth set for the first time since
2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
. Djokovic served to begin the fifth. Both men held serve comfortably until 3–3, when Federer was able to muster a break point but could not convert it after a long rally. Djokovic was able to hold and go ahead 4–3, and in the next game, found himself at 15–40 with 2 break points. Federer fought them off to level the match at 4–4. In the next game, Federer sent an overhead smash into the net that would have given him a 15–30 opening had he made it. Djokovic pounced on the error to hold serve and go ahead 5–4. Finally in the tenth game, Djokovic earned another two championship points after Federer sent a forehand long at 15–30. There was no ace this time as Federer faulted on championship point and was forced into a second serve. Djokovic took control of the ensuing rally and won Wimbledon after Federer netted a backhand to conclude the contest.


Officials

The chair umpire throughout the match was British official James Keothavong. He umpired his first ever Grand Slam singles final.


Reaction

Lasting for 3 hours and 56 minutes, the match was played at a relatively fast pace with both players serving well until the final game. Many rallies in the contest went over 20 shots. During the third set, Djokovic went over 30 minutes without hitting a single error. Federer's winners to unforced errors differential was +46, while Djokovic's was +41. Djokovic said "Sincerely, this has been the best quality Grand Slam final that I have ever been part of. I've had a longest final against Nadal in the Australian Open, but quality-wise from the first to last point, this is definitely the best match. It's the most special Grand Slam final I've played." Federer said "It was a great match and I enjoyed being a part of it. Winning or losing, it's always something special in the Wimbledon final and something you'll remember, even more so when the match was as dramatic as it was today. I'm very pleased with the way things went throughout the match. It was a high-quality match and it was good stuff from both players. Clearly we both walk away happy from here. I mean, him more happy than I am. But still, I'm happy overall." Retired tennis player
Jimmy Connors James Scott Connors (born September 2, 1952) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He held the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking for a then-record 160 consecutive weeks from 1974 to 1977 and a career total of 268 ...
was present for the match as a commentator for
BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...
. Connors said "I loved this match because there was more to it than just tennis. For four hours neither player wanted to give an inch. Sometimes there's a lull in matches that go five sets, but I didn't think there was a lull today at all. Both players came out and gave it the punch right from the start. It was one of those days when you say, "I'm happy to be here just to see this."


Statistics

Source
/sub>


Significance

*This was the first Grand Slam final since the 2009 US Open not to feature either
Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray h ...
or Rafael Nadal. *By defeating Roger Federer in the final, Novak Djokovic became the third man, after Nadal and
Juan Martín del Potro Juan Martín del Potro () (born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine inactive professional tennis player. Del Potro's biggest achievement is a major title: the 2009 US Open, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and the five-time defen ...
, to defeat Federer in a Grand Slam final, and the second after Nadal to defeat Federer in a Wimbledon final.What we learnt from the 2014 Wimbledon men's final
''The Roar'', 8 July 2014
*In his nine Wimbledon finals until 2014, Federer only lost two of them. Both of them required a fifth and deciding set in order for his opponent to defeat him, and in both matches Federer had to save a match point in the fourth set. Both of those finals ended in similar fashion with Federer hitting the ball into the net. In 2008, the match ended when Federer netted a forehand after the ball took an awkward bounce. In 2014, the match ended when Federer netted a backhand hit from an awkward position. * With this win, Djokovic became the only man to beat Federer at least once at every Grand Slam tournament. Likewise, Federer is the only player who has beaten Djokovic at every Grand Slam event, having achieved that feat at the
2012 Wimbledon Championships The 2012 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 126th edition of the The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon C ...
.


See also

*
Djokovic–Federer rivalry The tennis rivalry between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer is considered one of the greatest rivalries in men's tennis history and is one of the most prolific in the Open era, second only to the Djokovic–Nadal rivalry. Djokovic and Federer ...


Notes


References


External links


Match Report
official Wimbledon website

official Wimbledon website
Match details
official ATP site
Player head-to-head
official ATP site
Full match
on
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Extended highlights
on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:2014 Wimbledon Championships - Men's Singles final 2014 Wimbledon Championships Novak Djokovic tennis matches Roger Federer tennis matches
2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...