A hundred people with Serbian flags sprint towards the bridge that connects Wimbledon headquarters to the club’s social area. “No-le, No-le, No-le!” they shout as the champion passes by, who in the pause between his victory and talking to the journalists had time for everything: crying under the towel, kissing his wife ( Jelena) and her daughter (Tara), joke with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and party with their entire team in the privacy of the dressing room. He is excited and somehow relieved.
“The year started like this and it definitely influenced me. He was not doing well mentally and emotionally. It wasn’t easy to finish this episode, it created a lot of turbulence in me. But he just needed time to clear the storm. I came here after a tough defeat against Nadal [en los cuartos de París] and everything was complicated, but my tennis was always there. I know what my qualities are and what my tennis is and as I have always said, Wimbledon inspires me a lot,” says the Balkan, who already has 88 titles in the elite and was the ninth over thirty this Sunday.
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There is no special place for him, he says, than the All England Club, where he has already signed 86 wins, for the 85 at Roland Garros, the 82 in Australia and the 81 in New York. In London, only Martina Navratilova (9), Roger Federer and Serena Williams (8) have celebrated more than him, who may have played his last Grand Slam match against Kyrgios this season.
The health law of the United States prevents him from entering the country, so he will not be able to participate in the US Open from August 29th to September 11th as a matter of principle.
“I have not been vaccinated and have no intention of doing so. I don’t think it’s realistic to get an exemption.” I’m on vacation, yes. Whether I’m going to play soon or not, I need to rest for at least a few weeks because it’s been quite a tiring time. Then hopefully I’ll wait for good news from there [EE UU]. I’m not going to get overwhelmed by playing tournaments and earning points,” he adds, knowing that this Monday’s ranking update will, paradoxically, deal a heavy blow to him.
Kyrgios protests just before the final Zac Goodwin (AP)
By not distributing Wimbledon points – this was decided by the Great Brits organization to compensate for the veto on Russian and Belarusian tennis players – the Balkans lose the 2,000 they received in London last year and fall to seventh place the list . Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal will rise from fourth to third place. Between the two, they’ve won 15 of the last 17 Majors and if you add the dismounted Federer to the equation, the trident groups 59 of the last 69.
Before he (35 years old) spoke in the conference room, Nick Kyrgios did. The 27-year-old Australian expressed his disappointment, admitting he was suffering from anxiety ahead of the final and praising the winner’s ability to deal with emergency situations. “In the first set I felt like I had complete control of the game but he was calm as always. He always comes back, he’s never nervous,” said the Canberra player, the most-sanctioned player of the past two weeks. He has to pay 15,000 pounds (almost 18,000 euros) for his misconduct.
“This tournament helped me realize that I can fight for greatness,” he acknowledged, adding a nuance: “I feel like if I had won today I would have had motivation issues for the tournaments that followed. All my life I’ve been told that winning Wimbledon is the highest a tennis player can achieve. It’s the first time I’ve come this far, it took me ten years to reach it…”. Eventually, Kyrgios slipped that not playing the semi-final against the injured Nadal may have taken its toll.
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