Novak Djokovic, the world No.1, top seed and defending champion, is through to his fourth Wimbledon final.
He defeated France’s Richard Gasquet, as had been widely predicted, in straight sets but was made to work much harder than the experts, most of the Centre Court crowd and possibly he himself, had expected for his 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-4 victory in two hours 21 minutes.
Beforehand, Gasquet had quipped that he was “the worst” of the four semi-finalists at the Championships, but Djokovic wisely paid his opponent full respect despite having lost to him only once previously in 12 matches.
At 29 Gasquet is older, wiser and fitter and Djokovic, sometimes a little below his irresistible best, was at full stretch especially in a gruelling first set until he pulled clear in the tie-break.
Despite having treatment on his left shoulder during the match, Djokovic insisted, “I woke up with a stiff left shoulder. It is nothing that worries me. It will be fine for the next match.”
He added: “I am definitely living the dream right now, playing on the most famous tennis court in the world. I have a great responsibility to play well here, because if you look at the names of the legends who won Wimbledon it is a great honour and privilege to be out there.
The final of Wimbledon is the most watched tennis match in the world. There will be a lot at stake and I will be ready for it.”
Djokovic accelerated away to a fine start by breaking Gasquet’s opening serve but was not taking enough care to keep the ball away from the famed Gasquet backhand and paid the penalty when the Frenchman hammered a superb passing shot from that wing to break back.
The subsequent battle was a dogged one, with Gasquet well aware that if he fell a set behind the road to recovery would probably be beyond him. Djkovic opened the tie-break perfectly, with the fifth of his 12 aces, and from two points each he swept the next five. It was his fourth career tie-break against Gasquet and he has won the lot. That, he confirmed, was the turning point.
Successive aces also wrapped up the second set after he had broken in the first game, and his serve was armour-clad in the final set. He dropped just five points in five games and, with his coach Boris Becker looking on approvingly, he did more than his usual share of volleying, even throwing in a couple of Becker-like dives in pursuit of the unreachable.
Having been denied a couple of match points on the Gasquet serve, Djokovic set up a third with his final ace of the afternoon, completing the passage into the final with a forehand winner, before he blew a celebratory kiss heavenwards.
Of Sunday’s final, he said: “Roger is one of the people that made me a better player. He helped me understand what I need to do to become a better player and to win against him and win Grand Slam trophies.
"He’s so good and so consistent. He is the greatest ever. There’s not enough praise for what he does. This is where he plays his best tennis I think. Its probably going to be the biggest challenge I can have.”
