Despite losing the first set, the 34-year-old Serb won 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-4 6-3 in front of a passionate and noisy crowd of 15,000 on Centre Court. Seventh-seeded Berrettini, 25, received noisy support but was unable to hold on to his advantage in his first major final.
Novak Djokovic won Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam event, for the sixth time in his career Sunday in London. In the final, the Serbian, world No. 1, won in four sets 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in 3 hours and 23 minutes of play against Italian Matteo Berrettini, world No. 9 and seeded No. 7. With this new success, Djokovic wins his 20th Grand Slam tournament, coming back to the level of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic, the No. 1 seed, has now won all three men’s Grand Slam titles in 2021.
“Winning Wimbledon was always the biggest dream for me as a kid,” said the world number one, who dropped a set for only the second time in the SW19 fortnight.
“A seven-year-old boy in Serbia building a Wimbledon trophy with improvised materials and standing here with a sixth real trophy, that’s amazing. It’s amazing.”
Having already won the Australian Open and French Open, Djokovic is the fifth man in history – and only the second in the Open Era after Rod Laver in 1969 – to win the first three majors of the season.
Djokovic came out of the gates strong and converted his second break point of the match to lead 3-1. Berrettini, on the other hand, missed several easy shots but remained in the match at 5-3. The Italian was back to his best tennis and scored a counterbreak to come back to 5-4 and then equalize at 5-5. The world No. 9 continued his momentum in the tiebreak to win the first set 7-6 (4). Djokovic came back to win the first four games of the second set, taking advantage of Berrettini’s numerous unforced errors.
