THE Wimbledon crowd craved the Hollywood ending, one final take from one of its favourite performers.

But all it got was a reminder that sport is mainly a brutal, unsentimental old business. Roger Federer may be the greatest tennis player of all time. But Novak Djokovic is the man of the moment.

That point was rammed home in just shy of three hours on Centre Court yesterday in front of stars of screen and stage such as Benedict Cumberbatch and Hugh Grant, against an opponent who was a pale imitation of the swashbuckling, age-defying Roger Federer who had mastered Andy Murray in their semi-final on Friday. While the force had seemed to be with the 33-year-old back then in his pursuit of a record eighth Wimbledon title, this was more like the tennis equivalent of Empire Strikes Back with Novak Djokovic displaying all the compassion of Darth Vader.

While 15,000 rooted for the runner-up, at times when Djokovic struck a line with his own efficient serve, or conjured up the gutsy return with gave him championship point, the only sound which could be heard was the 28-year-old screaming at himself or his detractors in Serbian. This warlike individual, on cloud nine last night after clinching his ninth Grand Slam title by a 7-6 (1), 6-7 (10), 6-4, 6-3 scoreline, can be placed at the head of a list of sport's awesome anti-heroes which includes Floyd Mayweather, Tiger Woods, and also perhaps even the man in his coaches' box, Boris Becker.

There may have been little affection showered upon him by the partisan Centre Court crowd, but the Serb's love affair with SW19 continues. A second successive victory against Federer on finals day was a nice way to celebrate the one-year anniversary of his own wedding to his wife Jelena, with whom he also has a young son called Stefan.

It is also 30 years since Becker announced himself to the world as a brash, edgy 17-year-old with victory here, so perhaps it was appropriate that this occasion should see the Serb drawing level with his mentor on three Wimbledon wins. It was also a further tactical triumph for the German in his proxy war with Stefan Edberg, the Swede who won two of three Wimbledon back-to-back finals contested by these two legends of the sport between 1988 and 1990.

Just as he had done after his last two victories, the Serb marked the moment by kneeling on the Centre Court surface and nibbling a blade of grass, although bizarrely both men had showered and changed by the time the re-emerged for the ceremony. With the day's threatened showers having caused just one short break in play during the third set, the roof eventually came on, but only to keep the players dry during the presentation ceremony.

What Andy Murray, resting up at his home in Oxshott, Surrey, made of all this was anybody's guess. So imperious was Federer against the Scot that you wondered how he had added just a solitary title, 2012 Wimbledon final, to his collection of Grand Slam greatest hits in the last five years. But he could not maintain such superhuman serving levels here.

The Scot must have grimaced when he saw that Federer, who got 85% of his first serves in play, and made 11 aces during his first set on Friday, could achieve just 59% and two in those categories during his opening set here. Instead of the 11 unforced errors he made throughout all three sets on Friday, there were 11 in the first set alone yesterday, a total tally of 35.

Having said that, the margins between these two - No 1 and No 2 in the world rankings ever since their meeting here last year - have always been tight and at times you felt the Hollywood ending might just arrive after all. The personal head-to-head now stands at an even 20 wins each of their 40 meetings on tour and it took a tie-break to decide the first two sets.

The opening stages saw both men challenge each other at the net, with Federer fastest out of the gates. Some typically aggressive play saw the Swiss break for 4-2 but few are better in sport at putting disappointment out of their mind than Djokovic. Having saved one break back point with a service winner down the T, Djokovic found parity on the scoreboard again when his sizzling backhand pass presented Federer with a difficult volley which he was unable to convert.

Two set points for Federer came and went before it was tie-break time. Djokovic set the tone by chasing down a volley for an opening mini-break, and soon that serve which was functioning so well on Friday obliged with a double fault. The set belonged to the Serb.

All hope wasn't entirely lost, though. Federer had won the title after losing the first set on three of his seven previous finals - most recently against Andy Murray in 2012 - while Djokovic had actually won the first set before crashing to his countryman Wawrinka at Roland Garros.

The second set, too, meandered to a tie-break, but this time it was Djokovic who was burdened by the regrets. He was unable to capitalise on no fewer than seven set points, and squandered a 6-3 lead in a breaker which was so laden with pressure that neither player seemed capable of holding things together. The Swiss rushed the net behind his second serve on set point and it was his, 12-10.

So much for the opening skirmishes. The title suddenly up for grabs again, Federer was soon saving two break points then spurning one of his own in a frantic start to that third set. The Serb broke for 3-2 and soon the covers were coming on and both men were running for cover.

It was only the shortest of breaks, but Federer's briefly-held momentum had dissipated. He couldn't generate a single additional break point, while Djokovic's return was starting to make far greater inroads than Murray managed.

Having seen out the third set with a minimum of fuss, one such return which landed right on Federer's shoelaces saw him break in the fifth game of the fourth set and he was on the home straight. Djokovic's third Wimbledon title arrived with one last ruthless forehand from a short Federer ball. Maybe one day the Centre Court crowd might even appreciate him.