The Wimbledon final proved a bridge too far for South African Kevin Anderson who after back-to-back marathon singles matches in the past five days went down to Serbian Novak Djokovic 6-2 6-2 7-6 (3) in the championship round at the All England Club on Sunday.
The 8th seeded Anderson had a fairytale run to the final but he couldn't halt the 12th seeded Djokovic's charge for a fourth Wimbledon title and 13th overall Grand Slam title.
He was struggling physically and twice called on the trainer in each of the opening sets for treatment on his right forearm.
At the outset the indomitable Djokovic, a former world No 1, steamrolled his way to a first set 6-2 win, making only one unforced error.
It went much the same way in the second set. However, Anderson had a chance to halt the slide in the next set but he spurned five set points and Djokovic went on to close out the contest in straight sets with a 7-3 margin in the tie-break.
In a courtside interview after the match, a delighted Djokovic said: “It feels amazing because for the first time in my life I have someone screaming ‘daddy, daddy’ and it’s a little boy right there.
"He’s under five years old, so he couldn’t watch the matches live but we hoped if I lifted the trophy he could be there.
"I’m very emotional and happy for my wife and my whole team. He was by far the best sparring partner I had in the last couple of weeks.
"But I would just like to congratulate Kevin. He has had quite a few hours in quarterfinals and semifinals. In his first Wimbledon final he didn’t play well in the first two sets, but he was a better player in the third set and I was happy to come through.
"I owe a great thanks to my team. The last couple of years haven’t been easy. I had surgery and was absent from the tour for six months. This was my first grand slam final after a couple of years."
Anderson said playing at Wimbledon was an "amazing" experience for all the players.
“Playing against Novak isn’t easy. Congratulations to him. I’m not feeling as fresh now as I was coming into the week. But this is an amazing tournament for all of us. That’s what it had to take for me to get here. I would have given another 21 hours to have the opportunity to play out here,” said Anderson.
It's very likely that Anderson will move up to No 5 from No 8 when the latest world rankings are released on Monday.
Anderson's runners-up slot was worth £1.125m (R19.8m) and Djokovic would be banking double that. – African News Agency (ANA)
(Pic: AELTC/Simon Bruty
