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She becomes the first German woman to win Wimbledon since Steffi Graf.
Serena will still have another shot at the Slam record, and imo her 23 Slams in the Open Era is the real record anyway, without diminishing Margaret Court.
The Mens final tonight now between Novak Djokovic and Kevin Anderson, after Djoker outlasted Nadal.
Novak will not be underestimating the big serving South African for one minute, and has to have his return of serve game and his own serve at it's best to win this one, at least in a comfortable fashion and not in a prolonged marathon - which neither player will want.
Kevin Anderson can win this too, if he holds his nerve on serve, which he has showed he is more than capable of this tournament.
In addition to preventing Federer from winning a 21st slam, Anderson has given Djokovic his confidence back.
Anderson has done a tremendous service for tennis, as now the tour will be a 3-man race once again (except for at Roland Garros, of course).
As Agassi said, tennis needs Djokovic.
Nadal and Federer are not enough, especially when they are coasting to slam titles.
Have to feel for Kevin Anderson, who came out flat in the 1st 2 sets, no doubt the last 2 marathon matches taking its toll.
Nevertheless, Novak was clutch in the 3rd Set, and staved off set points to claim victory in the tiebreak.
In addition to preventing Federer from winning a 21st slam, Anderson has given Djokovic his confidence back.
Anderson has done a tremendous service for tennis, as now the tour will be a 3-man race once again (except for at Roland Garros, of course).
As Agassi said, tennis needs Djokovic.
Nadal and Federer are not enough, especially when they are coasting to slam titles.
Right after the match ended, I was thinking about what those 3 represent. Assuming one of the three wins the U.S. Open, going back to the beginning of 2003 that will be 16 years, 64 Grand Slam singles championships, and one of those 3 will have one 51 of those 64 . I want more for Federer, but even more than that, I want Rafa to get to 20, and I want Djokovic to get to 15 to pass Sampras. I'm an American, but I've never liked Sampras.
(off the top of my head can I name the players who have won the other 13 and how many for each ? ...3 for Murray, 3 for Wawrinka, 1 for Safin, 1 for Gaudio, 1 for del Potro, 1 for Roddick, 1 for Agassi, 1 for Cilic.....and....and....ugh...I had to look up the last one...Ferrero)
1) Will Federer win more grand slams? If so, how many more before he retires?
2) How many more grand slam titles will Nadal win? Will he catch up with Federer?
3) Does Djokovic have enough time to catch up on grand slam titles against Nadal and Federer? Will he keep his one-on-one wins against Nadal and Federer?
4) At the end, can we really say who is the GOAT when there are stats against the other one/two indicating otherwise?
1) 100% impossible to predict but I'd say Federer won't win any more slams.
Now that Djokovic and Nadal are both injury-free, I think we'll see the same situation as 2013-2016 (Federer won no slams during that period).
In fact prior to 2017, Federer's last couple of slams were 2012 Wimbledon and 2010 Australian Open, so he hardly won any slams from 2010-2016.
But let's revisit this when Djokovic or Nadal are injured again.....just a matter of whether Federer will be young enough to cash-in.
2) Nadal will catch Federer's 20 slams and overtake that record, by winning the US Open and some more French Opens at a minimum, and I wouldn't rule out the Australian Open and Wimbledon (obviously based on what we just saw, Nadal can win Wimbledon again).
The bigger question is, will Federer make it harder for Nadal by adding to the record?
3)Djokovic is too old to catch Nadal's current number of slams, plus I think Nadal will win several more.
I think Djokovic will keep his h2h lead over Nadal/Federer, and I think Nadal will keep his slam h2h lead over Djokovic (Nadal leads 9-5) and Federer (Nadal leads 9-3).
4) GOAT is not an accolade/award/stat, rather it is a figment of the imagination of fans. It never existed, and it never will exist.
But Federer's 20 slams exist, and Nadal's 17 slams exist, and let's see who finishes with the most.
Right after the match ended, I was thinking about what those 3 represent. Assuming one of the three wins the U.S. Open, going back to the beginning of 2003 that will be 16 years, 64 Grand Slam singles championships, and one of those 3 will have one 51 of those 64 . I want more for Federer, but even more than that, I want Rafa to get to 20, and I want Djokovic to get to 15 to pass Sampras. I'm an American, but I've never liked Sampras.
(off the top of my head can I name the players who have won the other 13 and how many for each ? ...3 for Murray, 3 for Wawrinka, 1 for Safin, 1 for Gaudio, 1 for del Potro, 1 for Roddick, 1 for Agassi, 1 for Cilic.....and....and....ugh...I had to look up the last one...Ferrero)
I think Djokovic will get to 15.
But if Djokovic doesn't get to 15, then that is great news for Federer, because Djokovic has been a huge roadblock for Federer at slams since 2010.
During that period, Federer only beat Djokovic at 2011 Roland Garros (but Nadal won that) and 2012 Wimbledon.
Without one of these three born into this era, one or both of the other two's Grand Slam records would go through the roof.
Imagine without two out of three. In other words, in a Federer world without Nadal and Djokovic or in a Nadal world without Federer and Djokovic, the possibility of 40 Grand Slam titles and back-to-back career Grand Slam titles are very possible.
Without one of these three born into this era, one or both of the other two's Grand Slam records would go through the roof.
Imagine without two out of three. In other words, in a Federer world without Nadal and Djokovic or in a Nadal world without Federer and Djokovic, the possibility of 40 Grand Slam titles and back-to-back career Grand Slam titles are very possible.
To have a 3-way rivalry of this magnitude certainly is unprecedented in tennis, and I have followed this sport since the 80s, when we had Connors-Mac-Lendl. (Borg had just retired).
These 3 were all time greats, but not at Fedalovic levels of crushing dominance and legacies.
Sampras never had opponents of this magnitude either, apart from Agassi who really cleaned up later, once Sampras had started to decline (outside of Wimbledon anyway) and he himself had a resurgence in 1999 and the early 00's.
We have been privileged to see this, 3 double digit Major champions slugging it out, as it may never happen again.
Nadal did very well to fight Djokovic until the end of that match, when it became clear he was tired (the del Potro effect) and Djokovic was the fitter one.
Nadal lost, sure, but he lost in the "best way," if that makes sense. Stats gives Djokovic the edge on both grass and indoors. Nadal is not as fit as he used to be, and was tired from del Po. Yet, with everything against him, he still was close to winning that match.
I think del Potro can definitely contend at the US Open, so my gut puts him, Djokovic and Nadal as favorites. Maybe Murray can make a deep run. I guess Cilic too . One can't forget Federer, but I really don't know how he will bounce back after the Anderson loss.
Anyway, congratulations to Djokovic and Angelique Kerber for their titles.
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