No. 2 Novak Djokovic (Serbia) def. No. 1 Rafael Nadal (Spain), 6-4 6-1 1-6 6-3. Novak Djokovic will hold the World No. 1 ATP ranking Monday morning, and he’ll have his name engraved on a certain silver gilt cup to go with it: The freewheeling Serb has struck down the unsinkable Rafael Nadal, whom he’s already beaten a handful of times this season on the Spaniard’s native clay, to claim the 2011 Wimbledon gentlemen’s singles tennis title.
Wimbledon 2011 Men’s Final: Novak Djokovic Defeats Rafael Nadal In Four Sets
The fourth set, indeed, told the story of the match, returning to the back-and-forth my-service-game-for-yours play of the first, with one crucial difference: Nadal’s killer mistakes came early. He broke his own serve on delirious-seeming errors to give Djokovic a 2-0 lead, broke Djokovic right back, but completely lost power in the eighth game to drop 5-3 behind the man about to overtake him in the standings no matter what he did. A beautiful over-the-shoulder backhand was the highlight of the ninth game, which culiminated in -- what else? -- a wide hit by Rafa that sent Djokovic sprawling to the grass of Centre Court in disbelief.
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