Novak Djokovic captured his first title at the All England Lawn Tennis Club as he swung his YouTek IG Speed MP to perfection in a thrilling 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 defeat of Rafael Nadal.
Fellow HEAD player Maria Sharapova also played a tremendous tournament with her brand-new YouTek IG Instinct and reached the final seven years after her first Wimbledon title.
Djokovic won his third career Grand Slam tournament after Australian Open victories in 2008 and last January. But the Serb, who changed to his new HEAD Speed weapon to start the season, also claimed his 49th victory of the season against one defeat as he ended Nadal’s 20-match win streak at Wimbledon.
“This is hard to describe with any words,” said the new champion, who takes over the number one ATP World Tour ranking from the Spaniard.
“It is the best day of my life, the most special. Wimbledon is my favourite event,” the Serb said after his historic win, achieved with 27 winners and just a dozen unforced errors. “It’s always been my dream to win here.”
The HEAD player was especially pleased about his performance against Nadal, whom he has now defeated in five 2011 finals.
“When you’re playing against the best in the world, you have to be on your best game,” said Djokovic. “He’s won two of the last three Wimbledon tournaments and is always winning big matches in the Grand Slams. This was probably my best-ever match on grass.”
The modest Djokovic jokingly called his double triumph – tournament and ranking – “a couple of good days at the office.”
To celebrate Djokovic’s rise to the top of the ATP world tour ranking, HEAD Tennis has created a special Facebook application at www.facebook.com/headtennis so all of his fans can congratulate him, while the NO.1VAK film on http://www.sports-insight.co.uk/index.php/content/video/no.1vak_novak_djokovic_on_top_of_the_world2/ a tribute to Djokovic’s incredible performance this season.
Maria Sharapova said that despite her loss, she is now eager to return to the practice court ready to work.
The 25-year-old added that she is ready to build upon the momentum from her first Grand Slam final since she won the Australian Open three years ago.
“Besides the fact that I lost, I think this is a big step for me, being here in the final, Sharapova explained. “I feel like I’m improving this year. That gives me a tremendous amount of confidence for the rest of the year.”
Andy Murray had some tremendous performances in front of his home crowd, reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals for the third consecutive time. Victoria Azarenka also made it to the final four for the first time in her career.
The HEAD young guns are also on the rise. Australian qualifier Bernard Tomic claimed a spot in the quarter-final before falling to eventual winner Novak Djokovic and moved from 158 to 71 in the ATP World Tour Ranking, while Austrian Tamira Paszek reached her first career quarter-final and improved her ranking from 80 to 40.
In addition, the up and coming HEAD Racquet Rebels put in perfect performances in the junior competitions at Wimbledon. Australian hopes Luke Saville and Ashleigh Barter claimed the junior singles titles – Saville fighting back from a set down against British favourite Liam Broady to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 – while Ashleigh Barter captured the title with a tight two-set victory over Irina Khromacheva from Russia.