London –
Novak Djokovic held off the early brilliance of Australian showman Nick Kyrgios to win a fourth straight Wimbledon title with a 4-6 6-3 6-4 7-6(3) win on sunny center court on Sunday.
The 35-year-old Serbian extended his Wimbledon unbeaten streak to 28 matches as he calmly took the lead after being upstaged in an opening set dominated by Kyrgios’ serve.
By winning a seventh Wimbledon crown, Djokovic took his Grand Slam singles run to 21, one behind all-time men’s record holder Rafa Nadal.
Playing in his first Grand Slam final, Kyrgios, 27, played scintillating tennis in a 31-minute opening set in which Djokovic couldn’t get close to his serve.
But Djokovic raised his level out of nowhere early in the second set and began to take control as Kyrgios’ volatile temper began to boil in the afternoon heat.
When Kyrgios lost serve 40-0 at 4-4 in the second set and Djokovic held on to move a winning set, the Aussie looked on the verge of losing control as he raved with his box.
Kyrgios refocused in a fourth set in which neither player saw a break point, but his dream of becoming Australia’s first men’s Grand Slam champion for 20 years evaporated as his game crumbled in the tiebreaker.
After a Kyrgios backhand hit the net on Djokovic’s third match point, the top seed threw his arms skyward and, after shaking hands, leaned down to snatch some grass of the famous old ground, becoming the second oldest male Wimbledon champion of the professional era. .
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)