Novak Djokovic pulled off arguably the most mentally exhausting Grand Slams win of his career when he beat Federer in the longest Wimbledon men’s final in history, lasting an incredible four hours and 57 minutes.
The Centre Court crowd have an almost patriotic support towards Roger Federer whenever he plays, and that only intensifies when competing in the final.
Federer continued to fight back to force a fifth set with noise levels growing even more in support of him.
Djokovic though remained calm in the wild atmosphere, saving two match points in the deciding set before going on to win his fifth Wimbledon title in the 12-12 tiebreak.
Speaking after his win, the 32-year-old revealed how he had trained his mind to cope with the partisan support being in favour of his opponent.
“When the crowd is chanting ‘Roger’ I hear ‘Novak’,” he said.
But his father, Srdjan Djokovic, was clearly furious at the perceived lack of respect towards his son.
“There was a lot of unfriendliness in the cheering of the English fans towards Novak,” he said.
“I have the impression that they were less cheering for Federer and more against Novak.
“I think that is ugly and the fair play they are proud of here it did not exactly show itself in the best light.
“Can you imagine them whistling after the first missed service to the winner of the past Wimbledon.
“But they did not count on the stubbornness, and Novak is naturally stubborn and he was getting additional strength from their bad relations towards him.”
He added: “He did not deserve that, he was always amazing towards the opponent, host, guests, organisers, ballboys.”
Djokovic’s win at Wimbledon has moved him up to 16 career Grand Slam titles, just four behind Federer’s record haul of 20 with Rafael Nadal sandwiched in between both on 18.
The world No 1 has now won four of the last five Grand Slam titles and will be aiming to retain his 2018 US Open crown next month.
He returns to action at the start of next month to begin the hard season at the Rogers Cup, where he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last 16 last year.
