NOVAK Djokovic has retained his Wimbledon title in style, fighting off a recovery from Roger Federer to win 7-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3.
The seven-time champion played much of the better tennis in terms of individual shots, but Djokovic's impeccable returning kept him in the contest, and then he showed superior stamina to close out the match in four sets after Federer had briefly threatened to get on top.
After the disappointment of losing the French Open final to Stan Wawrinka, Djokovic has reasserted his position as world No 1 in some style. For Federer, by contrast, the wait for an 18th Grand Slam - and a record-breaking eighth Wimbledon title - goes on. It is now three years since his last major, which came here when he beat Andy Murray a year before the Scot took the title.
Two days before this final, the great Swiss player had put in one of the best service matches of his life in the semi against Murray, reaching heights that Djokovic had fallen a little short of over the course of the fortnight. But Federer was unable to emulate that performance against his Serbian rival, for whom this was a third title at SW19 to add to those he won in 2011 and last year.
In the opening stages of the contest there was little between the two men. Federer appeared to be the more assertive, but Djokovic, who rivals Murray as the best returner in the game, was able to withstand the Swiss player's attempt to seize the initiative.
Then a poor service game from the Serb saw him broken to go 4-2 down. Having taken that lead, Federer should have capitalised, but instead looked too rushed from the first point of the following game, and Djokovic broke back all too easily.
Serving to force the tiebreak at 5-6, Djokovic saved two set points. He then had a mini-break in the first point of the breaker, then ran away with it, clinching it 7-1 on a Federer double fault.
The quality of play, already high in that first set, improved further in the second as both men increased their tempo. Serving first, Djokovic saved two break points on the way to going 3-2 up.
Federer got himself into trouble when serving to stay in the set at 4-5, and a double fault put him set point down. But he saved that one, and then, in a epic tiebreak, he saved another half-dozen before taking it 12-10.
After the disappointment of squandering so many chances to go two sets to love up, Djokovic recovered quickly to to go a break ahead in the third game of the next set. He was still ahead at 3-2 when a shower interrupted play, and on the resumption around 20 minutes later maintained that advantage to go two sets to one up.
The passage of play from the restart to the end of the set had been one of the quickest of the match, and neither man showed any adverse reaction to the rain break. But it was a run of games in which Federer would have hoped to hit back and at least put some pressure on the world No 1's serve, instead of which he all too quickly found himself a set down again, with the momentum firmly in his opponent's direction.
That was even more the case when Federer surrendered serve, somewhat tamely by his standards, to go 3-2 down in the fourth. A straightforward hold put the defending champion 4-2 ahead, and the end was in sight.
It would have been closer still had Federer failed to save two break points in the next game, but he clung on. He had a sniff at breaking back when the next game went to 0-30, but Djokovic held on with some excellent serving to go 5-3 up. That was Federer's last hurrah, and Djokovic broke him in the next game to complete the retention of his crown.
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