Top 5 Grand Slam men's singles matches of 2019

#1 2019 Wimbledon Final: Djokovic beat Federer 7-6(5) 1-6 7-6(4) 4-6 13-12(3)

Djokovic beats Federer in an epic Wimbledon final

Four hours and 10 minutes into the 2019 Wimbledon men'singles final, Roger Federer, who had just broken Novak Djokovic at 7-7 in the fifth, served up consecutive aces to arrive at two championship points.

Two championship points on serve. One swing of the racquet from Federer would have sealed the deal. A ninth Wimbledon title and a 21st Grand Slam beckoned.

A 15,000-strong partisan Centre Court Crowd waited with bated breath. This was what most of them had come for.

Television and mobile phone cameras were ready to capture the moment. The much loved Federer was on the cusp of another Wimbledon title, 16 long years after he captured his first.

A wide forehand from Federer drew collective groans. First championship point squandered. But there was another one on the Federer serve.

The Swiss made the right play, attacking the Djokovic forehand with a serve down the T and venturing to the forecourt - hoping to seal the point, the match and the title with a volley into an open court. But Djokovic had other ideas. A rasping cross-court pass tantalizingly eluded Federer's racquet and skimmed the sideline.

Deuce. Two championship points squandered. And two points later, it was eight games all.

The moment had come and gone in a flash for Federer. Centre Court descended into a cacophony of stunned silence.

Federer recouped quickly, remained strong on serve, and laid siege on the Djokovic serve in the 23rd game of the set. At 11 games all Djokovic led 40-0, only to be reeled back by Federer and face two break points.

The partisan crowd roared in approval again. Another opportunity loomed for Federer to break Djokovic and serve for the championship for a second time. But yet again, Djokovic slammed the door shut.

Federer then held serve to hold for 12 games all. The Wimbledon final now ventured into uncharted territory; for the first time in the history of the tournament, there wouldn't be a timeless fifth set. A deciding tiebreak would come into play, following a rule change at the end of the 2018 Championships where a 26-24 fifth set win for Kevin Anderson over John Isner in the semis made for a lopsided final.

For a third tiebreak in the match, Federer was slow off the blocks and paid the price. Djokovic opened up a 6-3 lead. Three championship points for the Serb, two of them on the Federer serve.

A deep return by Djokovic forced Federer to shank a forehand, drawing a gladiatorial Wimbledon final for the ages to a close.

Djokovic and Federer

At 4 hrs and 57 mins, the 2019 Djokovic-Federer match is the longest ever Wimbledon final. Subdued celebrations ensued for Djokovic, who triumphed for the fifth time in his sixth Wimbledon final, matching Federer's tally of five titles from the latter's first six Wimbledon finals.

Not since the 1948 edition, when Robert Falkenburg saved three match points against John Bromwich, had a Wimbledon champion saved multiple championship points in the final.

In another epic title match on the same court 11 summers ago, then five-time defending champion Federer, in his sixth (consecutive) Wimbledon final, had come second best against Rafael Nadal. Federer's defeat evoked painful memories of the 2011 US Open semifinal too, when the Swiss maestro also had two match points at 5-3 (40-15) on serve against Djokovic but went on to lose the match.

A year earlier Federer was denied by Djokovic in another US Open semifinal after having match points in the fifth set.

The 2019 Wimbledon triumph was Djokovic's 75th career title (75-34) and 16th Grand Slam, numbers bettered by only two other active players - Nadal (82-37 in all finals, 18 Grand Slam titles) and Federer (102-54 in all finals, 20 Grand Slam titles).

The victory in the final marked a fifth consecutive victory for Djokovic in his head to head against Federer (26-22) and a 14th win in 20 title clashes against the Swiss. Nadal has also won 14 tournament finals at the expense of Federer (14-10).

It marked the 10th time Djokovic had beaten Federer in a Grand Slam (10-6). Nadal is the only other player to have 10 Grand Slam match wins over the Swiss (10-4).

Only six other players (Arnaud Clement, Alex Corretja, David Nalbandian, Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Juan Martin del Potro) have multiple Grand Slam match wins over Federer.