Winning Wimbledon, said Novak Djokovic on Sunday, was the culmination of a lifelong dream. The Serb's four-set victory over Rafael Nadal gave him his third grand slam title and when the Spaniard's backhand sailed long to give him victory, he celebrated by eating a blade of grass on Centre Court.
"I managed to achieve a lifetime goal and I managed to make my dream come true, all in three days' time," said Djokovic, who on Monday will become the world No1 for the first time when the rankings are released. "It's just an incredible feeling that I'm never going to forget. This is the best day of my career."
The 24-year-old, who won his second Australian Open title in January and has lost just one match all year, said his victory was based on a lifetime's work. "For these kind of days, I was practising every day, being dedicated, being a tennis professional.
"Any athlete in the world dreams of being No1 in the world. This is something that gives us a lot of motivation. So finally when you really do it and when you know that you're the best, it's just an amazing achievement."
Djokovic went into the match having beaten Nadal in four consecutive finals earlier in the year, something he said gave him a psychological edge over the Spaniard.
"I had that in the back of my mind. I was trying to take myself back to those matches and perform the same way, aggressive, taking my chances, not giving him opportunity to take over the control."
Nadal, who was trying to win the title for the third time, agreed that he had been outplayed at vital moments. "The most important thing, to win tough matches, is to play well at the important moments," he said. "There are few points that can change a match and I didn't win them today."
However, he said he believed Djokovic may not be able to sustain his level of form for too long. "I lost because I am playing against the best player of the moment, the best player of the world. When you play against these players and they are playing unbelievable, the normal thing is to lose. That's what happened the last few times.
"My experience says this level is not forever. Even for me last year when I was winning three grand slams, [I knew] my level of last year was not forever. Probably the level of Novak today is not forever. I am going to be here fighting all the time, waiting my moment. I understand that the sport is like this. The last five times was not my time. I am going to wait and I am going to try to win a sixth. And if the sixth doesn't happen, [I will go] to the seventh. And the eighth. It's going to be like this. That's the spirit of the sport."
Djokovic said the Wimbledon win was his best. "I think most of the tennis players rate this grand slam as the most important tournament in our sport. So I think that sentence gives you an idea of how much this means for a player to win."
