Roger Federer leads tributes to Novak Djokovic after Serb's 20th Grand Slam win at Wimbledon
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic realized a childhood dream on Sunday when he beat Matteo Berrettini in four sets to win his sixth title at Wimbledon and a record-equalling 20th Grand Slam crown.
With his latest triumph at SW19, Djokovic has joined his illustrious peers Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in an unprecedented three-way tie atop the Grand Slam leaderboard.
It wasn't all plain sailing for Djokovic, who squandered a 5-2 lead in the first set before dropping it in a tiebreak. But normal service soon resumed as the Serb hit back in the second set to draw level.
The 34-year-old then clinched the next two sets to become only the third male player in the Open Era to win six Wimbledon titles and the third in history to win 20 Majors.
The Serb will now look to follow in the footsteps of the great Rod Laver and complete the Calendar Slam by winning the US Open later this year.
In the wake of Djokovic's Wimbledon triumph, congratulatory tweets poured in from the tennis fraternity. Here's a look at a few of them:
Roger Federer congratulates Novak Djokovic, others follow suit
Roger Federer was one of the first people to laud the Serb for reaching 20 Majors, a feat previously achieved by the Swiss himself and Rafael Nadal.
Wishes from other players and eminent personalities from the tennis fraternity soon poured in.
Rod Laver, the only male player to win the Calendar Slam, congratulated Djokovic for moving to within one Major of completing the feat.
American tennis legend Billie Jean King called Djokovic "the best" and lauded him for producing his best tennis under pressure.
Former British player Greg Rusedski tweeted that there may be no stopping the Serb from achieving the Calendar Golden Slam (Olympic gold and all four Slam titles in the same year):
Former Wimbledon champion Simona Halep also congratulated Djokovic, tweeting:
Two-time Grand Slam singles champion Mary Pierce called Djokovic's 2021 Wimbledon win "one of the best ever", saying:
Serena Williams' coach Patrick Mouratoglou described Djokovic as "the most complete player" ever.
Former American tennis player and acclaimed coach Brad Gilbert tweeted that Djokovic is closing in on the Calendar Golden Slam, a feat last achieved by Steffi Graf in 1988.
Former Wimbledon champion and Djokovic's current coach, Goran Ivanisevic, said his charge has probably sealed the GOAT debate in his favour by drawing level with Federer and Nadal for most Grand Slam singles titles:
"For me, not because I'm here, before I was member of the team, for me he (Djokovic) was the best," Ivanisevic was quoted as saying by the Express. "I say he's the only guy who can win four in a row in the same year. I don't know. If he wins US Open, I think it's over.
"But Nadal is going to fight. Nadal is going to come to French next year. He wants to win more. But for me Novak is the biggest ever, he's gonna best, he's biggest. I don't even have to debate about that."
Former Serbian doubles specialist Nenad Zimonjic termed Djokovic's win as "impressive", tweeting:
Former American tennis player Patrick McEnroe chimed in with "20-20-20" referring to the three-way tie between Federer, Nadal and Djokovic atop the all-time Slam leaderboard.