WIMBLEDON, England—At the French Open last month, Novak Djokovic was disgusted. He lost to an unseeded opponent, the type of player Djokovic would normally destroy. The defeat hurt so much that he had no idea what he would do next.
“I don’t know if I’m going to play on grass,” Djokovic said after the loss. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
A little more than a month later, Djokovic has accomplished what few expected: He’s now the Wimbledon champion for the fourth time in his career and playing like the Djokovic of old.
Djokovic on Sunday defeated Kevin Anderson in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(3). He bent down after Anderson hit Djokovic’s final serve into the net. Djokovic then took a piece of grass from the court and ate it, as is his custom at Wimbledon. Anderson, 32 years old, was playing the second Grand Slam final of his career. Last year he lost to Rafael Nadal in the U.S. Open final.
For Djokovic, 31, this is his fourth Wimbledon title and the 13th major title in all, but likely his most satisfying. From 2011 to 2016, Djokovic was the best player in the world. He won 11 out of the 24 Grand Slam events he entered, and in 2015 fell one victory short of a full Grand Slam season, which was last achieved by Rod Laver in 1969. He did, however, accomplish a feat that neither Roger Federer or Nadal have done. Djokovic won four straight Grand Slam finals from Wimbledon in 2015 to the French Open in 2016. After that rare streak, everyone thought Djokovic would continue to dominate.
But everything changed after that French Open title. Djokovic’s right elbow became painful and he lost in the third round of Wimbledon, his earliest defeat since the French Open in 2009. He bounced back and reached the final of the U.S. Open that year, but lost to Stan Wawrinka in the final. From there, Djokovic declined—and quickly. He lost in the second round of the Australian Open in 2017, his worst performance at a major since 2008.
Feeling fraught, Djokovic parted ways with his long-time coach, Marian Vajda, and two others, saying he was looking for “shock therapy.” Soon he was working part time with Andre Agassi, the American star who won eight Grand Slam titles in his career and knows a lot about injuries, motivation and recovery. But Djokovic’s elbow pain was too much to bear. After losing in the Wimbledon quarterfinals last year, he didn’t play another match as he tried to heal his elbow.
When Djokovic returned this year, he was still in pain and still playing subpar tennis. He eventually had minor surgery and remodeled his serve, to no success. Frustrated, Djokovic parted ways with Agassi and another brief coach, Radek Stepanek, a former pro. Then he called Vajda.
“He contacted me and said do you have the time to talk?” Vajda said. At one point, Vajda said, “We talked an hour on the phone. And explained to me the things, how he was, the condition he was in. Then he asked me what I’m thinking of his tennis.”
Since Djokovic parted ways with Agassi and has returned to his old team, he has improved by the week. His experimental serve, with the racket starting high earlier than usual, is gone now, and back to a smoother motion.
Against Nadal in the semifinals, Djokovic played his best match in two years. Nadal, hitting at his peak, pushed Djokovic to the fifth set on Saturday, the second day of their match, which was suspended at 11 p.m. on Friday. In the fifth set, Djokovic survived three break point chances with the score tied at 7-7. He won the match by breaking Nadal’s serve at love in the final game. In all, the match lasted five hours and 17 minutes. Djokovic hit 23 aces and 73 total winners to finish 10-8 in the fifth set.
Against Anderson, who is 6-foot-8, the outcome was clear from the beginning. Anderson beat both Federer and American John Isner in five sets; the semifinal against Isner lasted six hours and 36 minutes, the longest ever on Centre Court.
Djokovic broke Anderson’s serve in the first game of the match. Djokovic did the same at the beginning of the second set, with yet another break. Anderson, who had his right arm massaged after the first set, didn’t have enough weapons to compete. The fans wanted a longer and more competitive match, so they cheered loudly for Anderson when he won a point. But he was too exhausted to deliver. Anderson kept the third set close and twice earned a set point when leading 5-4. At 6-5, Anderson held three more set points against Djokovic, who again saved them all.
Djokovic, who was ranked No. 21 in the world at the start of the tournament, will climb up to No. 10. But the ranking doesn’t matter as much as what his fans see: Novak Djokovic is back and, now, a Grand Slam champion once again.
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