Novak Djokovic, right, holds the winner's trophy as he walks past runner-up Roger Federer after the Wimbledon men's singles final Sunday at the All England Club."Come on, Roger."
For more than four hours, those three words had filled the air all around Centre Court of the All England Club, at least 15,000 folks hoping they could will the remarkable Roger Federer to his ninth Wimbledon gentlemen's championship against world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
Or as 1987 Wimbledon champ Pat Cash tweeted at 12:53 Sunday afternoon: "So #Djokovic is basically playing #Federer and 15000 Federer fans right now."
And if Federer could win but one more point, victory would be his in the 16th game of the fifth set.
But this particular "Come on, Roger" was different from 15,000 voices screaming at once. This was one person shouting those three words at the moment Federer was beginning his serving motion as he attempted to make the first of his two match points be the only one he would need.
Mark WiedmerSo Federer swung, the fan yelled and the serve went into the net. Handed a second serve, Djokovic won the point. Then he thwarted the second match point. Then he broke Federer for the second time in the final set on his way to a stunning 4-hour, 57-minute win that wasn't done until the Djoker won the first fifth-set tiebreaker in the history of the four majors, that coming after two of the best to ever play their sport had battled to a 12-12 tie in final-set games.
To his credit, Federer never mentioned the solo fan screaming "Come on, Roger!" on that fateful serve. Maybe he never even heard the guy. Maybe it didn't matter. Maybe it was the nerves that have seemingly haunted Federer more than once in these moments, including a nearly identical meltdown in the 2011 U.S. Open semifinals against Djokovic, when he also blew two match points on his own serve.
Of course, excepting the pain Federer fans the world over must be feeling after watching the man they hope will forever be known as the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) of his sport be unable to collect his 21st Grand Slam title, this was arguably one of the four or five best major finals ever played.
Start with the length of the match, which was the longest Wimbledon final ever, eclipsing the 4:48 it took Rafael Nadal to edge Federer in 2008. Add to that the fact that Djokovic became the first champion since Bob Falkenburg in 1948 to fight off facing championship points and emerge the winner.
No wonder Djokovic - who is now 3-0 against Fed in Wimbledon finals - later observed: "It was one shot away from losing the match, as well. This match had everything. It could have gone easily his way."
But as it so often has with Djokovic and Federer in the biggest moments, it went the Djoker's way, his relentless, penetrating, absurdly accurate and consistent ground strokes too much for the 37-year-old to overcome over five sets but especially throughout three lost tiebreakers.
Some of it was possibly Fed's outrageous talent. He has more options than a Swiss army knife. But come the crunch, when overthinking becomes as dangerous as underhitting, simple is sometimes better.
Or as Djokovic observed after earning his 16th major men's singles trophy, which now inches him within two of Nadal's 18 and within four of Fed's record 20: "There's not a specific formula to find courage, at least from my perspective. You can go all out and just close your eyes and just hit the ball as hard as you can, you can call that courage."
This was the attitude that ruffled Fed's feathers in that 2011 U.S. Open loss. On match point, Federer perhaps serving more cautiously than he should have, Djokovic caught a wide serve in the deuce court and blasted it crosscourt for a winner near the sideline, a kind of all-or-nothing shot. Federer hinted he hadn't been taught to play that way. That he wouldn't have gambled in such fashion on a match point.
That's what has always made Djokovic so dangerous, though. He goes all out every point, even if Federer won 14 more points throughout the match than him. Djokovic doesn't play for his opponent to get tight. He plays for victory.
"I guess there is an endurance part," said the winner, who once outlasted Nadal in a grueling Australian Open final that spanned 5 hours, 53 minutes. "But I think there is always this self-belief. You have to keep reminding yourself that you're there for a reason and that you are better than the other guy."
At this moment, he is better than either Nadal or Federer, especially in the majors, having won four of the past five played.
Still, the ageless Fed did seem to be the better player for much of this match. The steadier player. The more gifted player, especially at the net, where he may never have played a better match in a bigger situation.
Yet he still gave away those two match points, which hadn't been done on Wimbledon's famous grass in 71 years. And with his 38th birthday arriving Aug. 8, anyone has to wonder how much longer such performances are possible. At some point, age will become a stiffer opponent than anyone not named Djokovic or Nadal.
"I will try to forget this final, but it was a great match," Federer told an overwhelmingly disappointed Wimbledon crowd. "I hope I give some other people a chance to believe around the world. I gave it all I had and I can still stand. My children won't be excited with the plate (runner-up trophy), they would be more excited with that golden thing. But it is all good, back to being a dad and a husband."
Worrying about how much longer the sporting world will get to see him be more than a dad and husband is what broke the hearts of Fed fans around the globe on Sunday.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.