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| Novak Djokovic looked like his old self as he reclaimed the Wimbledon title on Sunday. |
The mental toughness was back. The competitive edge and intensity that set him apart from the rest was on full display. Serbia's Novak Djokovic clawed and fought his way to a 13th major title and 4th Wimbledon crown on Sunday, regaining his top level that saw him dominate much of the field from 2011-2016. He has slowly built his confidence back throughout the season, showing signs of his former self during the clay court swing and finally putting it all together on the grandest stage of them all. The beginning of the season was riddled with surprising early losses to lesser competition where Djokovic looked like a shell of himself out on the court. He looked defeated, dejected and lacking confidence in his mental and physical abilities. Djokovic has endured some scrutiny and personal issues outside of tennis in the last couple of years that have detracted him from continuing on the successful path he was on. Combine that with a nagging elbow injury that required an adjustment in his serve motion and a surgery in February, along with a carousel of coaching and changes to his team and you have someone that was more lost in his career and personal life than he had ever been. His focus and appreciation for the sport that has given him everything may have suffered, but it was proven to be temporary over the past couple of weeks. In the third round versus hometown favorite Kyle Edmund, Djokovic found himself down a set with the crowd against him. Earlier in the year, he may not have had the mental fortitude to dig deep and turn that match around, but this time he was able to call upon that strength that had been such a big part of his reign as World No. 1 and come back to defeat Edmund and advance. Throughout the Championships, he showed a combination of climbing out of tough situations with the incredible movement and defensive skills that were a staple of his game for so long. Djokovic had both the mental and physical aspects of his game working for him at his highest level in two years, and regained the form that saw him sit atop the men's game for five years. All of this came to fruition in his semifinal victory over his biggest rival, Rafael Nadal, which saw both men playing at their highest level for 5 hours and 15 minutes over the course of two days. It was a back and forth affair with momentum swings that required both men to persevere and deal with adversity. Eventually, Djokovic was able to survive the titanic battle and prevail 10-8 in the fifth and deciding set. Coming through this test and securing the biggest win he's had in some time gave him the necessary self-belief to dismantle a less than 100 percent Kevin Anderson in Sunday's final. Djokovic was able to find himself again during this year's Wimbledon, which, at 31 years of age, leaves him with plenty of time to continue to build and get back to the top of the game.
