Novak Djokovic outlasts Roger Federer in a marathon fifth set to win his fifth Wimbledon title and 16th Grand Slam. (3:06)

Novak Djokovic outlasted Roger Federer in an epic five-set match Sunday, winning the first fifth-set tiebreaker in a Wimbledon men's final to repeat as the men's champion for the second time and win his fifth title at the All England Club.

The fifth-set tiebreaker was also the first in any men's final at the four Grand Slams.

The top-seeded Djokovic defeated Federer 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3) to remain unbeaten against the second-seeded Swiss in three Wimbledon final matchups. Djokovic also won in 2014 and '15, when he repeated as champion for the first time.

He won his first Wimbledon title in 2011.

At four hours and 57 minutes, it was the longest final in Wimbledon history, featuring 68 games, 422 points (218 for Federer and 204 for Djokovic) and 35 aces.

"Unfortunately in these kinds of matches,'' Djokovic said, "one of the players has to lose.''

Djokovic, 32, saved two match points to reach the fifth-set tiebreaker, becoming the first man since 1948 to save championship points in the final and go on to win.

"I'm just obviously thrilled and overjoyed with emotions to be sitting here in front of you as a winner. It was one shot away from losing the match, as well," he said. "This match had everything. It could have gone easily his way. He was serving extremely well, I thought, the entire match."

First it was Federer who kept falling behind, then coming back. He twice trailed by a set even though he came quite close to winning the match in three: Federer was two points from grabbing the opening set on seven occasions but couldn't do it; he was one point from seizing the third, but again came up short.

Novak Djokovic outlasted Roger Federer in the longest final in Wimbledon history to win his fifth men's title at the All England Club. Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP

Then Federer was down a break early in the fifth. And after seemingly gaining the upper hand, standing a single point from winning while serving for the victory at 8-7, 40-15, he faltered.

He sent a forehand wide on the first championship point, and Djokovic produced a crosscourt forehand winner on the next. Soon enough, Djokovic had broken back and on they would play for another 45 minutes.

"Definitely tough to have those chances," Federer said.

The crowd was decidedly pro-Federer and Djokovic said it was "hard not to be aware."

"I like to transmutate it in a way: When the crowd is chanting 'Roger,' I hear 'Novak,' he said, smiling. "It sounds silly, but it is like that. I try to convince myself that it's like that."

play 1:44 Djokovic: When the crowd chanted 'Roger,' I heard 'Novak' 2019 Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic outlines how he phased out the All England Club crowd's heavy support for his opponent, Roger Federer.

Federer, at 37 years and 340 days old, was seeking to become the oldest men's Grand Slam winner in the Open era (since 1968).

It is Djokovic's 16th Grand Slam title overall, moving him to within four of Federer's record 20. Rafael Nadal is second on the list with 18 Grand Slam victories.

Federer said he isn't thinking about Nadal and Djokovic threatening his record.

"I take motivation from different places, you know. Not so much from trying to stay ahead because I broke the record, and if somebody else does, well, that's great for them. You can't protect everything anyway," he said.

"I didn't become a tennis player for that. I really didn't. It's about trying to win Wimbledon, trying to have good runs here, playing in front of such an amazing crowd in this Centre Court against players like Novak and so forth. That's what I play for."

Wimbledon traditionally didn't play tiebreakers in the final set of matches but introduced one for this year if the score reaches 12-12.

ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> Defending champion Novak Djokovic claimed his fifth Wimbledon title on Sunday beating eight-time champion Roger Federer 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 13-12 (7/3) in the longest ever final and settled by an historic tie-break.

 The 32-year-old Serbian saved two match points as he took his Grand Slam tally to 16, four off Federer’s overall record.

 Djokovic’s victory extends to 11 successive Grand Slams won by the big three, himself, Federer and Rafael Nadal.

 At 4 hours and 57 minutes it was the longest final at Wimbledon.

 Stan Wawrinka was the last player outside the trio to win a Grand Slam, the 2016 US Open beating Djokovic.

 The last player to win a Grand Slam aged under 30 was Andy Murray, who won the 2016 Wimbledon title aged 29. </s> LONDON (AFP) - Defending champion Novak Djokovic claimed his fifth Wimbledon title on Sunday (July 14) beating eight-time champion Roger Federer 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 13-12 (7/3) in the longest ever final and settled by an historic tie-break.

The 32-year-old Serbian saved two match points as he took his Grand Slam tally to 16, four off Federer's overall record.

Djokovic's victory extends to 11 successive Grand Slams won by the big three, himself, Federer and Rafael Nadal.

At 4 hours and 57 minutes it was the longest final at Wimbledon.

Stan Wawrinka was the last player outside the trio to win a Grand Slam, the 2016 US Open beating Djokovic.

The last player to win a Grand Slam aged under 30 was Andy Murray, who won the 2016 Wimbledon title aged 29. </s> Hello. Usually people talk about the weather when they have nothing interesting to say. But bloody hell, it’s hot at Wimbledon today. London’s heatwave has returned with a vengeance and the sun will be beating down on Centre Court when Novak Djokovic and Kevin Anderson drag their weary bodies on to the grass in an hour. Chances are they’re both going to sleep for the next month once this is all done and dusted.

I’m not sure it’s been this scorching for a men’s final since Andy Murray beat Djokovic in 2013 and the conditions are bound to play a part given that both players have not had long to recover from their epic semi-finals. Anderson reached his first Wimbledon final after beating John Isner in six hours and 36 minutes - it was the second longest grand slam singles match of all time - and Djokovic sealed his spot after edging out Rafael Nadal yesterday. They’ve both got a lot of miles on the clock; most of us wouldn’t be able to pick up a racket after what they’ve put their bodies through in the past 48 hours. “My feet are sore, they’re swollen,” the 32-year-old Anderson said, speaking late on Friday night after winning his serve-off with Isner 7-6 (6), 6-7 (5), 6-7 (9), 6-4, 26-24. “The legs are jelly-like.”

If they’re still wobbling this afternoon, the eighth seed probably stands no chance of claiming his first grand slam title, even though Djokovic must be drained after taking two days to beat Nadal 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (9), 3-6, 10-8. Djokovic hasn’t had long to recover from outlasting the world No1, but the Serbian is one of the fittest players around and in total has only spent 15 hours and 34 minutes on court over the fortnight. Anderson, whose thrilling comeback from two sets and match point down in his quarter-final against Roger Federer took four hours and 14 minutes, has clocked up 21 hours and 1 minute in six matches. 



After the scheduling issues that have dominated the conversation since Anderson and Isner went deep into a fifth set that eventually began to resemble Superman punching himself in the face for three hours, let’s just hope that this doesn’t fall flat. These championships could do with a good ending given how many of the top seeds fell early.

Encouragingly, the 6ft 8in Anderson has been playing well enough to trouble anyone over the past year. The affable power server has hit 172 aces over the past fortnight and reached his first grand slam final at last year’s US Open final, losing in straight sets to Nadal. He’s grown in belief. His return game has improved and he is striking the ball with venomous intent. He could become the first South African to win the men’s title and the second African to win it since Jaroslav Drobny, who represented Egypt when he beat Ken Rosewall in 1954. He would also be the first man to win the Wimbledon title since saving match point since 1960.

Anderson will require a monumental effort, though, because he’s taking on arguably the greatest returner in the history of the sport. He has a 6-1 losing record against Djokovic and the Serbian’s performance against Nadal suggests that he’s back to his fearsome best after two troubled years. Djokovic hasn’t always exuded happiness over the past two weeks - there came a point when he looked like he might flick the Vs at Kate and Meghan in the Royal Box yesterday – and it’s strange to think he’s the 12th seed given that he’s lifted this title three times. He slumped spiritually and physically after completing the career slam at Roland Garros in 2016, his aching elbow gave up on him here last year and he looked like a busted flush at the start of 2018; defeats to Hyeon Chung, Taro Daniel, Benoit Paire and Martin Klizan followed his elbow surgery and he even suggested that he might skip the grass after crashing out of the French Open to Marco Cecchinato.

Yet Djokovic’s ferocious will to win, sprightly movement, stubborn defence and brilliant efficiency have all returned at SW19. Murray saw it coming, tipping Djokovic to beat Nadal during his appearance in the BBC studio on Tuesday, and it will be a huge surprise if the three-time champion, who’s back in a major final for the first time since the 2016 US Open, doesn’t claim his 13th grand slam title. Anderson is going to have to play the match of his life on Centre Court. Again. </s> Serbia’s Novak Djokovic has defeated South Africa’s Kevin Anderson in a three-set match at Wimbledon’s men’s single final today. The 6-2 6-2 7-6 victory marks Njokovic’s fourth Wimbledon win and 13th Grand Slam title overall, his last having been won at the 2016 French Open.

“The last couple of years haven’t been easy,” said Djokovic of the win. “I had surgery and was absent from the tour for six months. This was my first grand slam final after a couple of years. There was no better place to make my comeback. This is a sacred place for tennis. I always dreamed of holding this trophy when I was a young boy.”

“Playing against Novak isn’t easy,” added Anderson. “Congratulations to him. I’m not feeling as fresh now as I was coming into the week. But this is an amazing tournament for all of us. That’s what it had to take for me to get here. I would have given another 21 hours to have the opportunity to play out here.”

After suffering an elbow injury that caused Djokovic to withdraw from the 2017 Wimbledon quarterfinal, his win at Wimbledon today marks his first major victory in more than two years. In yesterday’s semifinal match, Djokovic had defeated Spain’s Rafael Nadal, the world number one, in a five-set match.

Meanwhile, had he won today’s match, Anderson would have gained his first Grand Slam title. He came close at the 2017 US Open final, but lost against Spain’s Rafael Nadal. At this year’s Wimbledon men’s semifinal, he defeated America’s John Isner in a gruelling match that lasted six hours and 35 minutes, the second longest in Wimbledon history.

Watch Venus Williams’s 7 Best Workout Moves for a Grand Slam Body—Just Ahead of Wimbledon </s> Just like Karolina Pliskova, who lost in the women’s final, Stan Wawrinka was one point away from exiting the U.S. Open long before championship weekend.

Again, like Pliskova, Wawrinka used his versatile survival skills to wiggle out of the predicament and fought off match point by forcing the issue. It was the middle weekend of the Open and Wawrinka faced match point in the fourth-set tiebreaker against the lightly regarded Dan Evans of Britain. Wawrinka got to the net and erased the match point with a forehand volley.

That’s how fine a line it is in professional tennis.

Wawrinka, 31, could have been on a beach somewhere this weekend, lamenting the third-round loss. Instead he will face No. 1-seeded and defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the men’s singles final Sunday. Wawrinka, seeded third, is aiming for his third Grand Slam singles championship and Djokovic is attempting to win No. 13, which would break a tie with Roy Emerson for fourth all time.

“The secret is simple,” Wawrinka said. “I have to play my best tennis, my best game. He’s the No. 1 player, amazing fighter. But I have enough confidence in myself that when I play my best tennis I can beat him.

“Hopefully I can bring that Sunday. But it’s the biggest challenge. When you play Novak, the No. 1 player in the final of a Grand Slam, it’s the biggest challenge you can have.”

Wawrinka is exceedingly dangerous when he reaches the final. He is 10-0 in tournament finals since 2014.

Said Djokovic: “He is a big-match player. He loves to play in the big stage against big players because that’s when he elevates his level of performance in his game. Just gets much better.”

This will be Djokovic’s seventh U.S. Open final — he’s won twice — and he holds a 19-4 career record against Wawrinka. Wawrinka beat him to win the French Open in 2015 and they had an epic battle at the Australian Open in 2013 with Djokovic winning, 12-10, in the fifth set.

There have been occasional interlopers among the big four of men’s tennis: Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray. Since the 2005 French Open, they’ve been responsible for 42 of 46 Grand Slam tournament titles.

By winning two Slams and a shot at a third major, Wawrinka is on the verge of transforming from a mere interloper to fifth member of the band. He was once firmly fixed in the shadow of his Swiss countryman, Federer.

Of course, who hasn’t been in Federer’s shadow at one time?

“He’s a very powerful, powerful player,” Djokovic said of Wawrinka. “Big serve. Probably the best, most effective one-handed backhand in the world now. You know, he can play it all. He has that variety in his game. He can be very dangerous for everybody.” </s> (Reuters) - Factbox on Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, who beat Switzerland’s Roger Federer 7-6(5) 1-6 7-6(4) 4-6 13-12(3) to win his 16th Grand Slam title on Sunday:

** His father was a professional skier and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps or play professional soccer but changed his mind when Djokovic excelled at tennis from an early age.

** First full year on tour in 2005. Made Grand Slam debut as a qualifier at the Australian Open, losing to Russian Marat Safin in the first round. Finished as the youngest player (18 years, five months) inside the top 100.

** In 2006, he won his first ATP tour title at Amersfoort.

** Retired in the 2006 French Open quarter-finals against Nadal when trailing by two sets, and again a year later due to blisters in the Wimbledon semi-final against the same opponent.

** Won five titles in 2007 (Adelaide, Miami, Estoril, Montreal and Vienna) and reached his first Grand Slam final at the U.S. Open, losing to Roger Federer.

** Beat Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win his maiden Grand Slam title at the 2008 Australian Open — becoming the first Serbian man to win one of the four majors.

** Failed to defend his title in Melbourne the following year after pulling out of his quarter-final against American Andy Roddick citing heat exhaustion.

** Led Serbia to their first Davis Cup title with victory over France in Belgrade in December 2010.

** Began 2011 by winning the Australian Open, beating Briton Andy Murray in the final, to end his three-year wait for a second Grand Slam title.

** Won his next six tournaments in Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, Belgrade, Madrid and Rome. Did not lose again until June 3 when Federer ended his 41-match winning streak in the French Open semi-finals.

** Secured the number one spot on July 4, 2011 by beating Tsonga in the Wimbledon semi-finals, then beat Nadal to clinch his first Wimbledon crown, his first title on grass.

** Saved two match points to beat Federer in the semi-finals of the U.S. Open then defeated Nadal in the final to become the seventh man to win three Grand Slam titles in a year since tennis turned professional in 1968.

** Won his third Australian Open title in 2012 by beating Nadal in five hours and 53 minutes.

** Began 2013 by beating Murray to become the first man in the professional era to win three successive Australian Open titles.

** Reached all four Grand Slam finals in 2015. Began the year by capturing a fifth Australian Open title, then missed out on the French Open again — his third loss in the title match —after falling to Stan Wawrinka in the final.

** Five weeks later drew level with his coach Boris Becker’s Wimbledon haul of three titles by defeating Federer in the All England Club final. Beat Federer in U.S. Open final, giving him three Grand Slam titles in a year for a second time.

** Beat Murray in the 2016 Australian Open final to win his 11th Grand Slam trophy.

** Beat Murray again in the French Open final that year to finally win the claycourt major at his 12th attempt. The win not only completed his Grand Slam collection but he also became only the third man — after Don Budge and Rod Laver — to hold all four majors at the same time.

** Advanced to his 21st Grand Slam final overall at the 2016 U.S. Open but was beaten by Stan Wawrinka.

** Retired in the 2017 Wimbledon quarter-finals against Tomas Berdych and ended his season on July 26 with a right elbow injury.

** Returned from a six-month injury absence at the Australian Open last year. Had elbow surgery following a last-16 exit to South Korean youngster Chung Hyeon.

** Beat Kevin Anderson in the 2018 Wimbledon final to seal his 13th Grand Slam.

** Capped off the year in style by beating Juan Martin del Potro to win the U.S. Open crown for a third time.

** Defeated Nadal in their 53rd career meeting to claim his 15th major and seventh Australian Open title.

** Djokovic’s 26-match winning streak in Grand Slams ended with a loss to Dominic Thiem in the French Open semi-final.

** Defeated Federer to claim his fifth Wimbledon title. </s> MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — So here was Roger Federer, down a break in the fifth set in a Grand Slam final. Across the net was his nemesis, Rafael Nadal, the left-handed Spaniard he hadn’t been able to beat in a major final in almost a decade.

The 35-year-old father of four was back in his first tour-level tournament after six months off letting his injured left knee recover, and he hadn’t won any of the big four events in tennis since Wimbledon 2012. Nadal was returning from injury, too, and somehow the pair had renewed the Roger-Rafa rivalry in a throwback Australian Open final that transcended sport.

At that moment, an 18th Grand Slam title didn’t feature in Federer’s thinking.

Don’t play the player, he reminded himself, just play the ball. Attack the serve.

With that, Federer recovered the break, and seized momentum in a roll of winning 10 consecutive points that helped propel him to a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win late Sunday night. His fifth Australian title extended his buffer to four atop the list of all-time Grand Slam champions. Nadal remained tied with Pete Sampras in second place with 14.

“For me it’s all about the comeback, about an epic match with Rafa again,” Federer said, “… that I can still do it at my age after not having won a slam for almost five years.

“That’s what I see. The last problem is the slam count — honestly, it doesn’t matter.”

Federer had lost six of the previous eight Grand Slam finals he’d played against Nadal and was 11-23 in their career meetings. His last win over Nadal in a major final was at Wimbledon in 2007.

“It remains for me the ultimate challenge to play against him,” Federer said. “It’s super sweet, because I haven’t beaten him a Grand Slam final for a long time now.

“This one means a lot to me because he’s caused me problems over the years.”

With big wins come big celebrations, Federer said. “We’re going to party like rock stars tonight.”

By winning in Melbourne, where he first played in 2000 and where he kicked off his long reign at No. 1 with the title in 2004, he became the oldest man since Ken Rosewall in 1972 to win a slam.

Federer had lost five semifinals in Australia since winning his previous title here in 2010. He’d lost three major finals since winning that last Grand Slam in 2012. He hadn’t played Nadal in a major final since losing at the French Open in ’11.

After twice rallying from a set down, Nadal was a break up in the fifth but couldn’t hang on to become the first man in the Open era to win each of the four majors twice. Instead, Federer became the first man in the Open era to win three of Grand Slam events at least five times (7 Wimbledon titles, 5 U.S. Opens, 5 Australian Opens and 1 French Open).

“The magnitude of this match is going to feel different. I can’t compare this one with any other one except for maybe the French Open in `09,” Federer said. “I waited for the French Open, I tried, I fought. I tried again and failed. Eventually I made it. This feels similar, yeah.”

Three months ago, Federer and Nadal were in the Spaniard’s native Mallorca for the opening of a tennis academy wondering if they’d ever be able to contend for majors again.

Yet here they were, the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, renewing the classic rivalry that saw them dominate tennis a decade ago.

The long-odds final — No. 9 against No. 17 — unfolded after six-time champion Novak Djokovic was upset by No. 117-ranked Denis Istomin in the second round and top-ranked Andy Murray, a five-time losing finalist in Australia, went out in the fourth round to 50th-ranked Mischa Zverev.

Federer beat Zverev, and then U.S. Open champion Stan Wawrinka in a five-set, all-Swiss semifinal. That was the night before Nadal held off Grigor Dimitrov in an almost five-hour, five-set semifinal late Friday.

After four sets of a final where the momentum alternately swung, the fifth had all the tension and drama that these two players are famous for.

Federer had a medical time out for treatment on his upper right leg and was broken in his first service game of the deciding set.

But he rallied and put Nadal under pressure. Nadal saved three break points in the eighth game but lost momentum again when Federer finished off a 26-shot rally — the longest of the match — with a forehand winner down the line.

Federer got the pivotal break for 5-3, but Nadal made him work for the very last point.

Serving for the match, and after saving two break points, Federer was called for a double-fault at deuce. He challenged the out call on his second serve, however, and it was overturned. Tempo back in his court.

After hitting a forehand crosscourt winner on his second match point, his celebrations were delayed when Nadal challenged the call.

Federer watched the replay, and leaped for joy when it showed his last shot was in — the perfect finish to his 100th match at the Australian Open.

“Congratulation to Roger … Just amazing, the way he’s playing after such a long time of him not being on the tour,” Nadal said. “For sure, you have been working a lot to make that happen.”

“I fight a lot these two weeks,” he added. “Today, a great match, probably Roger deserved it a little bit more than me.”

Federer’s championship victory capped a remarkable weekend for 30-somethings — all four singles finalists were 30 or older — after 35-year-old Serena Williams beat her older sister, Venus, in the women’s final to capture her Open-era record 23rd Grand Slam title. </s> WIMBLEDON, England (AP) - Three days after losing in her first major semifinal in singles, Barbora Strycova won her first major title in doubles.

Strycova and Hsieh Su-wei won the women's doubles at Wimbledon on Sunday by beating Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Xu Yifan of China 6-2, 6-4 on Centre Court.

"There is no word to describe the feeling," said Strycova, a Czech veteran who will take over the No. 1 rankings in doubles on Monday. "It's kind of like unreal, but in the same time it's amazing."

The match had been scheduled for Saturday, but it was postponed a day because the men's doubles final ran long, finishing in five sets. So the women's doubles instead followed the men's singles final on Centre Court while the mixed doubles was relocated to No. 1 Court.

"We were waiting a long time," Strycova said of Saturday's delay. "Yesterday was tough because we were ready, ready, then suddenly the supervisor came to us. If they just split sets, we cancel. We were just warming up. It was tough."

Even on Sunday they had to wait. The men's singles final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer went to a tiebreaker at 12-12 in the fifth set - the first year that rule has been in place.

"I was thinking (I'm) glad Wimbledon change the rules," said Hsieh, who is from Taiwan. "Otherwise I will keep eating and I will get fat."

The 33-year-old Strycova produced the best singles run of her career at this year's Wimbledon tournament, becoming the oldest first-time major semifinalist in the professional era. She ended up losing to Serena Williams 6-1, 6-2 on Thursday.

For Hsieh, it was her third Grand Slam doubles title. She won the 2013 Wimbledon and 2014 French Open titles with partner Peng Shuai.

Strycova and Hsieh have only played together 10 times, with nine of those partnerships coming this season. They won three titles this year, including on grass in Birmingham before Wimbledon started, but lost in the third round at the French Open.

"We definitely talked about playing together because we have a good chance to play the Masters," Strycova said. "We will play together until the end of the year, and then we sit down and we will see how it goes, how we feel."

Shintaro Mochizuki became the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam junior boys' title by beating Carlos Gimeno Valero of Spain 6-3, 6-2 in the Wimbledon final.

Mochizuki used his serve-and-volley style to great effect, winning 17 of 23 points when he went to the net. In comparison, Gimeno Valero won only one of four points at the net.

"I like coming into the net, yeah, a lot," Mochizuki said. "I'm good at that."

Mochizuki won the last three games of the first set and then broke for a 3-1 lead in the second. He broke again in the final game, converting his fourth match point.

Gimeno Valero was playing his first tournament on grass.

Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Latisha Chan of Taiwan won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon.

The eighth-seeded pair beat Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-3.
In the men's singles final match, Serbian Novak Djokovic beats Swiss Roger Federer in five sets for his 16th Grand Slam title win in a match that lasted four hours and 56 minutes. It was the longest Wimbledon final of all time, and also the first men's singles final in any of the four Grand Slam events that went to a fifth-set tiebreaker.