The night before their big Wimbledon final, Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios made an appointment for the party afterwards. “Are we friends now?” Kyrgios wrote publicly via Instagram on Saturday to Djokovic, with whom he had long had a heartfelt dislike.
“If you invite me for a drink or dinner, I accept. PS Tomorrow’s winner pays,” Djokovic replied. Whereupon Kyrgios hit again: “Deal, let’s go to a nightclub and go crazy.”
Since the Australian Kyrgios supported the unvaccinated Serbs in the debate about his denied entry to the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, there has been a relaxed mood between the two tennis professionals. Today (3:00 p.m. CEST) the 35-year-old Djokovic is the favorite in the game on Center Court and wants his fourth Wimbledon triumph in a row and the seventh overall. Eight years his junior, Kyrgios entered the first Grand Slam final of his career without a fight after suffering an abdominal muscle injury to Spaniard Rafael Nadal. The most important thing about the final:
Series: Djokovic has not only won the last three Wimbledon editions. He has been unbeaten on Center Court since 2013, when he lost to Britain’s Andy Murray in the final.
Records: Djokovic wants his 21st Grand Slam title, which would reduce the gap to the men’s record holder Nadal to just one triumph. Djokovic has already secured the record for finals in one of the four big tournaments with his 32nd appearance in the final and is now ahead of Roger Federer (31) and Nadal (30). At Wimbledon, Djokovic could catch up with Pete Sampras with his seventh title, while Swiss Federer holds the record for the history of professional tennis with eight.