There will be no calendar-year Grand Slam in 2016 and there will be a new Wimbledon champion.
That was guaranteed when Sam Querrey shocked world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who lifted the trophy at the All-England Club in both 2014 and 2015, 7-6(6), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5) during third-round action Saturday afternoon. Querrey finished off the rain-delayed contest after a total of two hours and 57 minutes amidst intense fourth-set drama.
After the underdog took the first two sets on Friday, Djokovic benefited from yet another rain delay to get off to a roaring start one day later. The top seed surged through the third set and a fifth seemed imminent when he broke for a 5-4 lead in the fourth. But perhaps Querrey held more belief than the fans, most of whom were clearly in his corner.
“I’m not going to lie and say going into it I thought I was going to win,” Querrey commented. “But I think as the match progressed, I was serving well and holding in the first set, we were kind of going back and forth, I gained a little more confidence with every game.”
The 41st-ranked American broke right back for 5-5 and then delivered a clutch hold that preceded–you guessed it–one final rain delay. After play resumed, Djokovic held serve in impressively routine fashion to force a tiebreaker. He even seized a quick mini-break, but Querrey recovered for 3-3 at the change of ends and he eventually converted his second match point at 6-5 when Djokovic sailed a forehand wide.
“Just congratulations to Sam,” Djokovic began his press conference. “He played a terrific match. He served very well, as he usually does. I think that part of his game was brutal today. He made a lot of free points with the first serve. Just well done. He just overpowered me.”
“Yeah, definitely,” Querrey answered when asked if this was his best win ever. “I think with the stage that it was at, here at Wimbledon, to beat Novak, who is playing at such a high level for the past five years, I would say so.
“It’s not career‑defining, but it’s really exciting. It’s something that I’ll always get to have, which is great.”
Querrey’s doubles partner, Steve Johnson, will hope to produce a similarly hard-to-believe result on Monday. Johnson gave himself a shot at Roger Federer in the last 16Â by knocking out Grigor Dimitrov 6-7(6), 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday.
“I think it’s great,” Johnson said of this banner day for American men’s tennis. “Maybe we won’t get bashed in the media for once for at least a couple days…. I think we get criticized a bit for not winning slams, which is fair.”
They didn’t win a slam on Saturday, but Querrey certainly turned one upside down.
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I was thinking the same thing as Steve, maybe now the Americans won’t get so bashed in the media. What a great win for Sam and I think Novak was very gracious.
EPIC
I think it’s a great win for Querrey. He really needed something like this. I hope it will help him going forward. It’s quite an achievement to take out Novak in a slam these days.
I should also offer congratulations to Steve Johnson for his win over Dimitrov. He now gets the chance to go up against Fed.
I hooe that the American men don’t get bashed by the media. Isner didn’t finish his match, but he could still get to the fourth round, too.
The British media:
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