London (dpa) - Novak Djokovic took over as king of the courts Sunday as the Serb scored a one-two punch with a Wimbledon title and ascension to the world number one ranking.
The pair of first-time honours began with a 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 finals defeat of two-time champion Rafael Nadal, who Djokovic will replace at the top of the ATP list on Monday.
That changing of the guard will mark the first time since February, 2004 that either Nadal or Roger Federer have not held the top spot. The trophy is the third at a Grand Slam for Nadal after Australia 2008 and last January.
"I can't find words to describe the feeling that I have right now," said the delighted winner. "I managed to achieve a lifetime goal and I managed to make my dream come true, all in three days' time.
"It's just an incredible feeling that I'm never going to forget. This is the best day of my tennis career."
Top seed Nadal came to the court with a 16-11 record over Djokovic, who now stands 48-1 on the season. The Spaniard had lost four 2011 finals to Djokovic but had beaten the Serb in all five of their previous meetings at the majors.
"For these kind of days, I was practicing every day, being dedicated, being a tennis professional," said Djokovic. "Any athlete in the world dreams of being number one. This is something that gives us a lot of motivation.
"So finally when you really do it and when you know that you're the best, it's just an amazing achievement."
Nadal owned titles from 2008 and 2010 at Wimbledon and had been hoping to defend a non-clay title for the first time. But the Spaniard said frankly that he was outplayed.
"He played better than me, for that reason he is the champion here. So I just can congratulate him.
"He played very, very, very high level for moments, and I played a little bit lower than the previous days."
Djokovic raced through the first two sets in an hour and a quarter of impeccable play, hung on through a third-set slump and finished the job to claim his 44th win of the season against just one defeat suffered against Roger Federer in the French Open semi-finals last month.
When he claimed the title on his first match point after two and three-quarter hours, an overjoyed Djokovic flung his racquet into the crowd and raced to greet his family and friends. He finished with 27 winners and just a dozen unforced errors, breaking on five his six chances against the formerly invincible Nadal.
Djokovic now owns eight titles in 2011 including Melbourne and four at the Masters 1000 level.
"When one player beat you five times is because today my game don't bother him a lot," said Nadal. "Today probably against me he's playing better than my level.
"I need to find solutions, that's what I have to try and that's what I'm going to try."
Dkjokovic agreed that his recent wins gave him an edge. "I had that in back of my mind. I was trying to take myself back to those matches and really perform the same way that I performed those days in those matches: aggressive, taking my chances, not giving him opportunity to take over the control." dpa bs Author: Bill Scott
The pair of first-time honours began with a 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 finals defeat of two-time champion Rafael Nadal, who Djokovic will replace at the top of the ATP list on Monday.
That changing of the guard will mark the first time since February, 2004 that either Nadal or Roger Federer have not held the top spot. The trophy is the third at a Grand Slam for Nadal after Australia 2008 and last January.
"I can't find words to describe the feeling that I have right now," said the delighted winner. "I managed to achieve a lifetime goal and I managed to make my dream come true, all in three days' time.
"It's just an incredible feeling that I'm never going to forget. This is the best day of my tennis career."
Top seed Nadal came to the court with a 16-11 record over Djokovic, who now stands 48-1 on the season. The Spaniard had lost four 2011 finals to Djokovic but had beaten the Serb in all five of their previous meetings at the majors.
"For these kind of days, I was practicing every day, being dedicated, being a tennis professional," said Djokovic. "Any athlete in the world dreams of being number one. This is something that gives us a lot of motivation.
"So finally when you really do it and when you know that you're the best, it's just an amazing achievement."
Nadal owned titles from 2008 and 2010 at Wimbledon and had been hoping to defend a non-clay title for the first time. But the Spaniard said frankly that he was outplayed.
"He played better than me, for that reason he is the champion here. So I just can congratulate him.
"He played very, very, very high level for moments, and I played a little bit lower than the previous days."
Djokovic raced through the first two sets in an hour and a quarter of impeccable play, hung on through a third-set slump and finished the job to claim his 44th win of the season against just one defeat suffered against Roger Federer in the French Open semi-finals last month.
When he claimed the title on his first match point after two and three-quarter hours, an overjoyed Djokovic flung his racquet into the crowd and raced to greet his family and friends. He finished with 27 winners and just a dozen unforced errors, breaking on five his six chances against the formerly invincible Nadal.
Djokovic now owns eight titles in 2011 including Melbourne and four at the Masters 1000 level.
"When one player beat you five times is because today my game don't bother him a lot," said Nadal. "Today probably against me he's playing better than my level.
"I need to find solutions, that's what I have to try and that's what I'm going to try."
Dkjokovic agreed that his recent wins gave him an edge. "I had that in back of my mind. I was trying to take myself back to those matches and really perform the same way that I performed those days in those matches: aggressive, taking my chances, not giving him opportunity to take over the control." dpa bs Author: Bill Scott
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