History-maker Novak Djokovic beats Matteo Berrettini in Wimbledon final to win his 20th Grand Slam title

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Novak Djokovic with the Wimbledon trophy

A third consecutive Wimbledon trophy, a sixth title in total at SW19, a record-equalling 20th Grand Slam and a third consecutive major in 2021. These are just some of the mind-blowing feats that Novak Djokovic achieved after beating Matteo Berrettini in the Wimbledon men’s final.

To be fair, it was not quite the Novak Djokovic steamroller that people are used to as there were plenty of errors and Berrettini had his chances, but his 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory in three hours and 24 minutes on Centre Court will see his name stay on the honours board at the All England Club for another year.

The victory saw the Serbian icon draw level with his great rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on 20 Grand Slams while he kept his hopes of a Golden Slam (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open and Olympic gold) alive.

The opening game of Sunday’s final was a dreadful affair as it had two double faults and several unforced errors, but once Djokovic and Berrettini warmed to the task, it turned into an excellent match.

Djokovic was the man to serve in the error strewn opening game and he held firm as Berrettini failed to convert an early break point.

It set the tone for the tight Berrettini for the next few games and it was no surprise when he was broken in the fourth game as Djokovic built a 5-2 lead.

The Italian, though, started to loosen up and produced a massive hold in the next game as it lasted 10 minutes with eight deuces and one Djokovic set point saved.

And that set him on his way and, coupled with some uncharacteristic errors from the world No 1, he got the break back and then took it to the tie-breaker.

Berrettini had an early mini-break, but Djokovic drew level before the Italian edged ahead again and then produced a big booming serve on his first set point to take the opening set.

If Berrettini thought that was a sign of things to come, he could not be further from the mark as he was broken in the first game of the second set and within the blink of an eye he was 4-0 down as Djokovic started to turn the screw.

Yet, much like the first set, the seventh seed found a second wind and produced a few magnificent shots to get one break back and then held to reduce the deficit to 5-4.

However, there was no denying Djokovic when he came out to serve for the set for a second time as he constructed a love game to level it up at one set each.

The third set followed a familiar script and Berrettini struggled early on and was broken – this time in the third game – and then threw everything at the defending champion to get back on terms. He fashioned two break points in the sixth game, but Djokovic was not to be denied and eventually served it out.

The fourth sent went off script as this time Berrettini started well and was solid on his serve, but all his hard work was undone in game seven as the excellent Djokovic fashioned a break point at 30-40 and the Italian served a double fault to all but hand the world No 1 the match.

The 34-year-old Djokovic was never going to let that advantage slip as he held serve and after Berrettini saved two match points, it was third time lucky when the Italian hit a slice into the net.

The victory, his eight Grand Slam after turning 30, means he now one of only five men to have won the third three Grand Slams of a calendar year, the last being Rod Laver in 1969 while he is now just the US Open and gold in the singles at the Tokyo Games away from becoming the first man to win a Golden Slam.

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Matteo Berrettini Novak Djokovic

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