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sports Monday 11 July 2022
Novak Djokovic beats Nick Kyrgios for 7th Wimbledon title

By HOWARD FENDRICH umpire he fist-bumped be- was trying to become the
AP Tennis Writer fore the match, and chuck- first unseeded men's cham-
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) ing a water bottle. pion at Wimbledon since
— Novak Djokovic waited. In the second set, with Goran Ivanisevic in 2001.
He waited for Nick Kyrgios Djokovic serving at 5-3, Kyr- Ivanisevic is now Djokovic's
to lose focus and lose his gios got to love-40 — a trio coach and was in the Cen-
way. Waited to find the of break points. But Kyrgios tre Court guest box for the
proper read on his foe's big played a couple of casual match.
serves. Waited until his own returns, and Djokovic even- Kyrgios, the 27-year-old
level rose to the occasion. tually held. Australian, had never had
Djokovic is not bothered When that set ended, Kyr- been past the quarterfinals
by a deficit — in a game, a gios waved dismissively in 29 previous Grand Slam
set, a match. He does not toward his box, sat down appearances — and the
mind problem-solving. And and dropped his racket last time he made it even
at Wimbledon, for quite to the turf, then groused, that far was 7 1/2 years
some time now, he does to no one in particular: "It ago. In some ways, he stole Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates beating Australia's Nick
not get defeated. was love-40! Can it get any the show Sunday. He tried Kyrgios in the final of the men's singles on day fourteen of the
Djokovic used his steady bigger or what?! Is that big shots between his legs, hit Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Sunday, July 10,
brilliance to beat the enough for you?!" some with his back to the 2022. Associated Press
ace-delivering, trick-shot- And then, in the third set, net, pounded serves at up
hitting, constantly chatter- with Kyrgios serving at to 136 mph and produced
ing Kyrgios 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 4-all, 40-love, he again let 30 aces. He used an under- logged in the 560-page wore glasses in a final" — no
(3) on Sunday for a fourth a seemingly sealed game arm serve, then faked one Wimbledon Compendi- mention is made of "under-
consecutive Wimbledon get away, with Djokovic later. um — including catego- arm serves in a gentleman's
championship and sev- breaking there. For all of the significant re- ries such as "ambidextrous final," but it seems safe to
enth overall. The 40th-ranked Kyrgios cords and other factoids players" or "runners-up who say that was a first.q
The top-seeded Djokovic
ran his unbeaten run at the
grass-court Grand Slam
tournament to 28 matches
and raised his career haul
to 21 major trophies, break-
ing a tie with Roger Feder-
er and moving just one be-
hind Rafael Nadal's 22 for
the most in the history of
men's tennis.
Among men, only Federer,
with eight, has won more
titles at Wimbledon than
Djokovic. In the profes-
sional era, only Federer
was older (by less than a
year) than the 35-year-old
Djokovic when winning at
the All England Club.
This comeback on a sun-
filled afternoon followed
those in the quarterfinals,
when Djokovic erased a
two-set deficit against No.
10 seed Jannik Sinner, and
in the semifinals, when No.
9 Cam Norrie grabbed the
opening set. In last year's
title match at Wimbledon,
Djokovic dropped the
opening set. In the 2019 fi-
nal, he erased two cham-
pionship points against Fe-
derer.
There were two particu-
larly key moments Sunday,
ones that Kyrgios would
not let go as he began en-
gaging in running mono-
logues, shouting at himself
or his entourage (which
does not include a full-time
coach), earning a warning
for cursing, finding reason
to disagree with the chair