In 2019, Federer blew two championship points in a thriller Wimbledon final loss to Novak Djokovic.
Roger Federer says he is at peace with his 2019 Wimbledon final loss as he insists his life would have been the same today even if he had won an absolute thriller versus Novak Djokovic five years ago.
In the summer of 2019, Federer made his 12th and last Wimbledon final after beating Rafael Nadal in the semifinal. Then, the next up for Federer was Djokovic, who was bidding to defend his title at The Championships.
After the opening four sets, the feeling was that Federer was the better player overall but the scoreline was even. But in the fifth set, Djokovic was the one who claimed the first break but Federer turned that around with breaks seventh and 15th games to go 8-7 up in the decider.
Serving for the match in the 16th game, Federer had two consecutive championship points. At that moment, it looked like Djokovic was done and Federer would go on to extend his all-time Wimbledon record to nine titles. But then shockingly, Federer missed out on a chance to close out the match and Djokovic went on to complete a 7-6 (5) 1-6 7-6 (4) 4-6 13-12 (3) win.
For Federer, it was a loss that put him to an 8-4 record in his Wimbledon final. Also, it was the 31st Grand Slam final for the Swiss – he ended up finishing his career with a 20-11 record in Slam finals.
While Federer remained as calm as usual moments after the 2019 Wimbledon final loss, it was clear that he was absolutely heartbroken inside. And that loss is widely considered one of the most painful of the Swiss’ iconic career.
“I lost that match, but I think that if I had won, my life wouldn’t have changed anything. As a kid I dreamed of one day playing at Wimbledon Central and winning the tournament. I didn’t expect to win it eight times and have so much success around the world. In the end, we talk about an extra prize. Obviously if I could play those match points again, I would do it differently, but the balance of my career is positive. I feel deep happiness and gratitude for tennis,” Federer told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Djokovic confessed Federer was the better player in the 2019 Wimbledon final
In one of his interviews from last year, Djokovic explained how the 2019 Wimbledon final is a perfect example of how you can win even on not your best day if you keep fighting. When making his point, Djokovic pretty honesty admitted that Federer was “the better player in every aspect” during their 2019 Wimbledon final.
“I beat him 13-12 in the 5th set. The sets that I won were all won in tiebreaks,” Djokovic said last year.
“Overall, if you see stats, he was the far better player in every aspect, but I won the match.
“So that actually tells you can still win if you pick and choose which moments of the match you’re peaking and playing your best when it matters.”
Federer made a Djokovic admission this month
When Djokovic was just starting his career, he was known as a big talent and someone who could potentially be a great player in the future. But when Federer and Djokovic met at the Monte Carlo Masters in 2006, there was no doubt that the Swiss was the absolute favorite in their match. But the Serb didn’t go down without a fight in their first match as the Swiss former world No. 1 had to work hard before completing a 6-3 2-6 6-3 win.
