Novak Djokovic clinches seventh Wimbledon crown after disruptive fans affect Nick Kyrgios battle

Novak Djokovic withstood the pressure on him at Wimbledon this year to win his fourth consecutive title on Sunday and move within one Major of Rafael Nadal.

The 35-year-old once again rallied from behind to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) to oust an initially calm and collected Nick Kyrgios on Centre Court.

But matches at the highest level do not allow for a moment’s loss of concentration, and a quick 0-40 break of the Kyrgios serve in the second set was enough for Djokovic to level the tie. 

However, the third set is where disruptions began to emerge, including a protestor being tackled and hauled out of the stadium as Djokovic opened his service game down 1-2. 

Later, when a fan shouted out between first and second serve for Kyrgios, the Aussie needed a word with the chair umpire soon after. 

At the 3-2 change of ends Kyrgios pleaded with the chair umpire to have a specific spectator thrown out, though it is unclear if it was the one who shouted between his serves.  

“She’s drunk out of her mind in the first row, talking to me in the middle of the game,” he said. “The one with the dress, the one who looks like she’s had about 700 drinks, bro!”

The crowd member appeared to continue chatting away at Kyrgios as the third set went on. 

The pivotal moment came at 4-4, when Kyrgios had eased to 40-0 with two aces and an unreturned serve. 

After squandering three game points, he threw in a double fault to hand Djokovic a set point, which the top seed duly captured as Kyrgios netted a backhand. 

A tight fourth set saw no break point chances for either player as it headed to a tiebreak. 

Djokovic went into lockdown mode as Kyrgios crumbled, the Serb taking the breaker, his seventh Wimbledon and his 21st Major crown. 

While Djokovic overtakes Roger Federer to reach 21 Slams, at present he will not have the chance to level Nadal on 22 until next years French Open, as his vaccination status bars him from the US and his Australia deportation means he is likely to miss the 2023 event there. 

Will Nadal be able to pull two ahead again in the 10 months between?

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