Anderson had little left to compete with resurgent Djokovic

It is fair to say that Novak Djokovic is back.

Djokovic’s comeback from a 2017 elbow injury was slow to get going earlier this season, but it has suddenly resulted in the biggest of titles. The former world No. 1 punctuated his resurgence by winning Wimbledon for the fourth time, defeating Kevin Anderson 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(3) on Sunday.

“I had many moments of doubt; I didn’t know if could come back to this level to compete,” Djokovic reflected. “There is no better place to make a comeback. It’s a sacred place for the world of tennis. It’s very special.”

Winning a special semifinal put the 31-year-old in this position. In a battle with two-time Wimbledon champion and current world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, Djokovic needed two days to prevail 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(9), 3-6, 10-8.

Anderson’s road to the final was even more grueling. The world No. 8, who was runner-up to Nadal at the 2017 U.S. Open, endured epic five-setters in both the quarters and the semis. He shocked Roger Federer 2-6, 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4, 13-11 from match point down in the third set before outlasting John Isner 7-6(8), 6-7(5), 6-7(9), 6-4, 26-24 in the second-longest match in Wimbledon history.

As such, Anderson was obviously less 100 percent for Sunday’s final. The 6’8” South African did well in the third set after providing little resistance in the first two, even generating set points (five total) in two different games with Djokovic serving at 4-5 and 5-6. But Djokovic managed to force a tiebreaker and dominated the rest of the way.

“You always have high hopes,” said Anderson, who obviously went into the final as a heavy underdog. “Going into the match, I was hoping to draw on some previous experiences, playing at the U.S. Open in the final, obviously playing Federer a few days ago. But I didn’t really find my form the way I wanted to. Of course, my body didn’t feel great. I don’t think you’re going to expect it to feel great this deep into a tournament when you’ve played so much tennis.

“But I was definitely quite nervous starting out the match. I didn’t play great tennis in the beginning. I tried my best to keep at it. I definitely felt much better in the third set. I thought I had quite a few opportunities to win that third set….

“I would have loved to have pushed it to another set, but it obviously wasn’t meant to be.”

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