Roger Federer, Serena Williams and VenusWilliams were also missing from the list of finalists at the Wimbledon this year. In fact, the winner of the men’s and women’s Wimbledon finals was first timers. Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 to clinch the title and the top rank. It must be noted that Djokovic defeated Nadal in four finals this year and broke the seven-year hegemony of Nadal and Federer at the top. In the women’s, Czech champion Petra Kvitova knocked out former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 to capture the title.

Before the start of the match between the Serb and the Spaniard commenced many tennis enthusiasts thought that Nadal would dismiss Djokovic soon to clinch the title for the third time. However, the dream was shattered as the Serb was in superb form. He took nearly two and a half hours to inflict the first defeat on Nadal at Wimbledon in four years and 20 matches.

After winning the title, Djokovic said that this was the best day of his life. He went on to add that this was the tournament he always dreamt of winning. “When you’re playing the best player in the world ... I had to be on top of my game. I played probably my best match on grass courts ever,” Djokovic said. To realize that he had really won the game, the Serb ate a blade of grass on  centre Court after defeating Nadal.

Twenty-four-year-old Djokovic won his second Australian Open title in January 2011 and has lost only one match till date. He said his Wimbledon win was the achievement of a lifetime work.

Going into the finals, Djokovic had an advantage of defeating Nadal in four consecutive finals in 2011. He said that he had those victories in mind while playing Nadal in the Wimbledon final. He played with the same aggression and not giving his opponent any opportunity to take control. At the end of the day, Nadal agreed that he had been outplayed at crucial times. He however, agreed that to win tough matches one must always play at one’s best as there are few points that can swing the match and which eluded him in the final. Giving credit to his opponent, Nadal said that he lost as he was playing against the best player at the moment. On the other hand, the Spaniard is too optimistic on whether the Serb would be able to retain his form. Following the proverb of ‘Try, try till you succeed’, Nadal said that he would rise and return to his earlier form even though the last five games were not his. Everybody is not in the same form, Nadal said, adding that 2010 was a good year for him when he won three grand slams. “I am going to be here fighting all the time, waiting my moment. I am going to wait and I am going to try to win a sixth, the seventh or the eighth,” Nadal said. In the semi-finals too, for a set and three-anda- half games, Nadal was outplayed by Andy Murray of Britain, who made all efforts to reach the finals. The match changed at 15-30 on Nadal’s serve. After that Nadal was nonstoppable and stormed into the finals. All eyes were on youth icon Maria Sharapova to lift the title, but eighth seeded Petra Kvitova blasted the Russian in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 25 minutes. After a gap of two decades, one again saw a left-hander clinch the title at the Centre court. Experts say that she is not an elegant player, but she hits with a purpose, and could again be seen at the podium. Sharapova tried to establish her supremacy, but failed against a tide of measured ground strokes from Kvitova.

Sharapova served 13 double-faults and hit 18 unforced errors in just 19 games defeating Germany’s Sabine Lisicki in the semi-finals, only to cut the free points on her serve to six, with 12 self-made mistakes in the final against the Czech. Kvitova hammered Sharapova with her guile, on both her wickedly spinning left-handed serve and a sliced backhand.

Kvitova took the first set, serving out to love,while Sharapova, who had entered the finals without dropping serve, was being hammered away by a Wimbledon debutant.At the end of the match, former World Champion John McEnroe said that one was watching a really, really special talent.
Twenty-one year-old Kvitova, who has been honoured with the Women’s Tennis Association’s ‘Newcomer of the Year’ award,joins stalwarts like Venus, Serena, Maria Sharapova, Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis. One may wonder that winning the award was some kind of a booster too to grab the Wimbledon crown. Experts say no, as some WTA Newcomer roll of Daja Bedanova, Irina Spirlea and Caroline Wozniacki have not reached the top. It is creditable that Kvitova has been growing from strength to strength. She reached the quarter-finals of this year’s Australian Open, losing 6-2, 6-4 to 2010 Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva. She reached the fourth round of the French Open losing to winner Li Na.

Coming to her exploits, grass-court is Kvitova’s best. At last year’s Wimbledon, she was an unseeded semi-finalist, who lost to Serena Williams in straight sets. At Eastbourne before the start of Wimbledon, the Czech was runnerup. Hailing from Fulnek village in the north-east of Czech Republic, Kvitova has taken the baton from Kveta Peschke, who reached the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2005. Following her idol Martina Navratilova (now a US citizen), who was Wimbledon champion for nine times, one hopes that Kvitova too would recreate that magic. Incidentally Navratilova too is a left hander. It might be the start of a new era, but one must take note that all past winners will not lie low and would be waiting to bounce back. Waiting for great tennis ahead.