The shared 20:20 vision of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal is over, three is a crowd at the top of men’s tennis.
Novak Djokovic joined the other two immortals when he claimed his sixth Wimbledon title with a hard-fought win over Matteo Berrettini.
Cheered on by a British crowd in a manner Italy’s footballers could only dream of, the 25-year-old Roman could not prevent a 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 defeat to the world No 1 which took three hours and 24 minutes.
And so Djokovic moves on to 20 Grand Slam titles alongside his two great rivals with the promise of more to come.
Novak Djokovic showed his championship quality to win his 20th Grand Slam title in a thrilling Wimbledon final on Sunday
The Serbian’s success sees him draw level with long-time rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on 20 Grand Slam titles
The world No 1 was all smiles in the end following more than three hours on court with Matteo Berrettini, who played sublime
Djokovic raced into the crowd after sealing victory over Berrettini to celebrate with his coaches in his own players’ box
Berrettini was in his first Grand Slam final and after a rocky start he soon made it interesting by winning the opening set
History weighed heavily upon him and this was not one of his great performances and somewhat fragile at times, but it was enough, as it so often is. He was the tougher on the big points while his returns just edged the Berrettini powerhouse serve, while his backhand shaded his opponent’s forehand.
After winning a last battle of backhand slices that ended with the ball in the net he feel to the ground and soaked in the acclaim of the Centre Court.
The volcanic eruption of the arena which greeted Berrettini taking the first set was a beautiful sound, no matter you support.
It had been an eventful opener and one which both players, clearly nervous, had been reluctant to win up until its denouement.
At 5-2 down in the first few gave Berrettini much hope but he settled and began to make life difficult for the Serbian
Djokovic impressed in neutralising Berrettini’s wicked serve but after losing the first set the Italian soon found momentum
A huge crowd turned out to watch inside the All England Club as space was firmly at a premium watching on Henman Hill
Djokovic was extremely edgy at the start, serving three double faults in the first two games and allowing a first break point. Luckily for him the Italian was even more ill at ease and, as we have seen so often before, could not take his chances against the world number one.
Somehow the Serb found himself 4-1 up and when he moved to 5-2 all looked predictable. There then followed a 22-point game which Berrettini held after saving a set point. That tipped Djokovic into the anxiety zone and he was broken when the Italian reached a a dropshot and flicked a winner down the line.
Berrettini knew he had to apply some scoreboard pressure to have any chance and he delivered in the tiebreak, going 3-0 up and then sealing it 7-4 with an ace smacked down the ‘T’.
As has been the case for most of this event Djokovic had not been at his imperious best, but he broke early and after getting ahead to 5-2 managed to serve it out, confidently, at the second time of asking.
Djokovic was battling against the crowd but that’s not alien to him at SW19 and he soon found his groove to take control
A double fault was costly in the third set and Berrettini was left with his head in his hands having seen his grip weaken
The Italian was averaging 12 mph quicker on serve but he needed to be more consistent than the 58% first serves he was managing against the greatest returner of all time and was duly broken early in the third as an increasingly assured Djokovic cleverly stole into the net.
Doing his best to keep the ball away from his opponent’s fearsome forehand he had a mini crisis in the sixth game of the third but saved two break points despite some weak second serves, interacting with an increasingly boisterous crowd.
He was also slowing down the pace he was giving to Berrettini’s groundstrokes and drawing errors as a result. A forehand wide sealed a two sets to one lead.
Just about keeping his head amid a highly charged atmosphere, Djokovic was shading the duel between his backhand and the Italian forehand. At 3-3 in the fourth set the pressure paid off when Berrettini double faulted on break point.
From there he held his nerve and broke one final time to seal history.
Recap how events unfolded with Sportsmail’s Nathan Salt, as he provided live coverage of the men’s Wimbledon final, contested by Novak Djokovic and Matteo Berrettini.