Aimee
Desperation and pressure, those evil twins, gnawed away at Novak Djokovic’s spirit to lift the emotional Serb to his second Wimbledon triumph on a warm Sunday afternoon, a strangely mellow setting for such an elemental fight with the people’s champion, Roger Federer.
Those who cried with and for the loser, the most popular man in the history of the game, might spare a thought, too, for the winner because, had he lost a sometimes excruciating struggle, the psychological damage could have been significant.
Although he was a slight favourite (how often can a man with 17 majors start as an underdog at Wimbledon?), although he had five years on his opponent, although the sentiment was with Federer, reaching for an 18th slam title after a two-year drought, it was Djokovic who was carrying the greater burden.
If Federer had won, it would have been hailed as the crowning achievement of a glorious career. Losing hardly dented his aura or his legacy, especially as he went down fighting.
But for Djokovic, a sixth defeat in seven slam finals, to complete four in a row, was unthinkable. He simply could not allow it – even though no one was pulling for him. To lose – even to the man he later described as “a magnificent champion” – could have induced serious despond. Indeed he had said beforehand his inability to close out these big occasions was “wholly psychological”.
