Wimbledon 2022 men’s singles final: Novak Djokovic defeats Nick Kyrgios
Mercurial Serb beats a revitalised Nick Kyrgios who began brilliantly – only for his game to collapse amid heckling from a ‘drunk’ fan.
The mercurial Novak Djokovic romped to his seventh Wimbledon title, beating in four sets a revitalised Nick Kyrgios who began brilliantly only for his game to collapse after several foul-mouthed temper tantrums and heckling from a fan.
In an electric match of three hours, Djokovic lost the first set but eventually mastered Kyrgios’ monster serves.
The scoreboard read 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 but was not truly reflective of the closeness of the points and the thrilling ebb and flow of the match.
Post-match, Kyrgios, 27, couldn’t help himself, defying Wimbledon’s all-white clothing rules by donning a red cap, an act for which he faces yet another fine.
Legendary bad boy John McEnroe said in commentary that Kyrgios’ talent and shot selection was incredible, but that “he beat himself” because of his screaming at his (support) box.
“I get that he is blowing up nerves and steam, but maybe they should file out and maybe that would do something,’’ said McEnroe.
After losing three break points in the crucial third set, Kyrgios ran to his support box and screamed so loud it was heard all around the court: “What do you want now, why do I get to f … g 40-15 and you just sit there, why do you that?’
The Duchess of Cambridge, sitting just metres away in the royal box turned to distract Prince George, eight, who was attending his first Wimbledon match.
Kyrgios later admitted he didn’t play the clutch points well.
“Played a hell of a first set and put myself in a position to obviously take a stranglehold of the match. He’s just really composed,” he said.
“It’s weird, I felt like he didn’t do anything amazing today. Hats off to him. That was a hell of a match. I thought I served well. I put myself in a position to win, but I just wasn’t able to play those clutch points well at all today.”
Kyrgios then said: “I came up short but I am happy with that”, adding that Djokovic – while a great returner – wasn’t as tough an opponent as Roger Federer.
“He doesn’t make you feel as bad as Federer does at times,” he said.
In an incident-packed third set Kyrgios received a code violation for swearing at a fan he claimed was drunk. He asked the umpire to have her removed: “She’s drunk out of her mind. The one in the dress, the one who looks like she has had 700 drinks’’.
"She's drunk out of her mind and talking to me in the middle of a game. She's the one who looks like she's had 700 drinks."
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) July 10, 2022
Classic Nick Kyrgios#Wimbledonpic.twitter.com/mhDw7M2Zbd
In the press conference, he elaborated: “I wouldn’t say she cost me the game. I’m playing the Wimbledon final against probably one of the best players of all time. I don’t need someone absolutely smashed talking to me point in, point out. Do you know what I mean?
“I’m all for having a great time. Like speaking between first and second serves to me, you know. I mean, look, I’ve been on a couple nights out in my life, and I knew that she had too many. I told the umpire, She’s speaking to me a lot, and she’s drunk. What are you going to do about it?”
The woman told reporters she had had two drinks and was supporting Kyrgios. When told this, Kyrgios said: “That doesn’t make it okay to start talking to Nick Kyrgios who’s playing a final of Wimbledon, middle of the point. Why are you trying to make that okay? What?”
Djokovic has now accumulated his seventh Wimbledon title and 21st grand slam, moving past Roger Federer on the all-time list. He’s just one grand slam behind Rafael Nadal, who had to withdraw his semi-final against Kyrgios because of a stomach injury.
Early in the match, the packed centre court witnessed a new-look Kyrgios, with a skill level no one had seen before: a relatively calm, mature player using his fearsome serve at will, hitting more than 200km/h, showcasing patient baseline rallies, and his cheeky underarm serve — seen for the first time in a Wimbledon final There was a crowd pleasing tweener and many tactical soft crosscourt touches over the net.
Doing his thing on the grandest stage 💪​
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2022
Presenting Nick Kyrgios with our Play of the Day#Wimbledon | @HSBC_Sportpic.twitter.com/Jd7BRKCNGe
For a while it appeared that Kyrgios’ litany of problems – his vile abuse of match officials, chair throwing, spitting and the unseemly braggadocio that covered up a multitude of inadequacies – was behind him and that a supremely talented player who could actually concentrate on playing tennis was emerging.
But as has been seen too often, in the high pressure moments, Kyrgios reverted to his tried and true tactics of deflecting any blame from himself onto others. When the momentum of the match turned to Djokovic, began screaming at himself and then towards his dad Giorgos, his girlfriend Costeen, his sister Halimah and his trainer.
Anyone else still thinking about this sensational @DjokerNole shot? 🤤#Wimbledon | #CentreCourt100pic.twitter.com/ftBjWX465q
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2022
As well as the crowd annoying him, an Australian activist protesting for Peng Shuai was muscled out of the stands by security.
The umpire, Frenchman Renaud Lichtenstein also was on the receiving end of Krygios’ complaints for not overruling tight calls near the line.
As the rowdy scenes continued, one spectator yelled out “Where is Medvedev?”. The answer, as the world number one’s Instagram showed, that he was watching the Austrian F1 from his lounge room, having been banned from playing by Wimbledon officials because he was Russian.
Djokovic, 35, told centre court after his win that he never thought he would say so many nice things about Kyrgios.
Kyrgios publicly supported the Serb in his battles with Australian politicians when he was held in a detention centre and was deemed to be a health risk to the Australian public.
Since then the two have exchanged social media messages and the winner was to shout dinner to the loser, although Kyrgios insisted he wanted to “go nuts” in a nightclub.
Said Djokovic to Kyrgios: “I really respect you a lot, now everything starting to come together for you and I will see you in latter stages of grand slams. I never thought I would say so many nice things about you considering the relationship (up to last year). It is officially a bromance.”
Saving his best until last 🌟
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2022
A fantastic Fortnight to reach your first Grand Slam final, @NickKyrgios#Wimbledon | #CentreCourt100pic.twitter.com/7sqVHsaM7A
Djokovic said his tumultuous experience in Australia in January had been a “huge challenge” and “emotional” obstacle. He said while he was ready to move on once he left Australia, there had been “some unpleasant situations that keep on repeating the same movie that I was part of unfortunately in Australia’’.
“That has caused turbulence inside of me. I just needed time to weather the storm. At one point I realised it’s just going to take time, and that’s it – time for me to regroup, to get into optimal balanced state on the court, off the court.
“The game was there. I know what my qualities are, what my tennis is. It’s just all these things off the court that were just causing so much distraction and pressure that I had to deal with, not just myself but people around me. It has been affecting them a lot more probably than me because they’ve been protecting me. Again, I can feel it through them, right?”
"Don't drop it!" 😅
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2022
It's been a special first #Wimbledon visit for Prince George ðŸ†#CentreCourt100 | @KensingtonRoyalpic.twitter.com/VKXg06hPCU
He said that playing in Australia – where he’d won the Australian Open nine times – was where he felt the most comfortable.
“That’s the court where I would probably like to play, if I have to pick one match or one court, it would be there,’’ he said.
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