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Novak Djokovic beats Roger Federer in an epic five-set Wimbledon final

Novak Djokovic beats Roger Federer in an epic five-set Wimbledon final

Sports aren't supposed to give us the perfect matchup on the perfect stage, but that's what happened on Sunday at Wimbledon, when Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer battled it out in one of the most historic Wimbledon finals ever.

Djokovic, a man in desperate need of a Grand Slam finals win, took down Roger Federer, a man fighting that unbeatable battle with Father Time, in a five-set final Sunday that nobody will soon forget.

The crazy thing about this Wimbledon final is it looked over early in the fourth set, when Federer found himself down a set and inn a 3-5 hole to a man who was battling injury at times, but seemed to bounce back faster and stronger with each visit from the trainer.

Djokovic was serving for the match at 5-3 in the fourth after some loose service games from Federer, but the 17-time Grand Slam winner was able to break Novak to keep himself in the match. Federer went on to win the final four games of that fourth set, and took all the momentum of the match to the deciding fifth set where Federer has seen both triumph and heartbreak.

Since 2002, the men's final has gone to five sets four times, with Federer beating Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick in that final set and dropping one to Nadal in 2008. This time it was again a disappointing result for Federer, who was broken in the 10th game of that final set when a backhand found the net to give Djokovic his seventh Grand Slam title and second Wimbledon win.

This was the type of match that saw the winner shed tears, with Novak telling Federer after the match, "thanks for letting me win today," after a battle of two tennis giants.

For Djokovic, this is the win he needed. The 27-year-old had lost his last three Grand Slam final appearances, and hadn't held the trophy at one of the big four tournaments since the 2013 Australian Open.

When Federer took that fourth set after Djokovic got out to such a big lead, most felt the momentum was with the 32-year-old, but Djokovic mentioned after his match that he had a talk with himself between sets to get himself ready for that final push.

He reigned victorious in London, and for Federer, it's now exactly two years since his last Grand Slam win, even thought it looked like he might hold this trophy for a record eighth time on Sunday at the All England Club.