Wimbledon ends where it began, with Novak Djokovic and a standing ovation on Centre Court, but he was not the central character here. While the records will show that Djokovic won his fourth straight Wimbledon title, adding his seventh overall and 21st grand slam, it can also be argued that it was handed to him. Nick Kyrgios and his run to a first grand slam final has been captivating as well as controversial, but it was his unravelling here that will be the prevailing story of the final.
Djokovic, of course, played his part in grinding down Kyrgios and extinguishing the unique threat that he provides. It takes steel to battle from 0-40 down but it takes a champion’s timing to do it twice, and at crucial junctures in the match. Had they gone the other way, at the end of the second set and start of the third, then this may have developed into a different contest altogether. It was Djokovic’s grit and lapses from Kyrgios that were responsible for that, but the Australian instead pointed to anything and everything around him. His box and those closest to him received the brunt of the tirades, but it extended from the umpire to an over-exuberant fan in the opposite corner.
