Wimbledon 2019: Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are both a credit to our great sport

Holy cow! Holy smoke! Holy mackerel! What a final that was. I don’t think any of us needed reminding that Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are two of the greatest players who have ever played the game, but Sunday’s Wimbledon final was a wonderful demonstration of that fact.

Both players were magnificent. It was a brilliant advertisement for our sport, from the moment Djokovic and Federer started the match to their great dignity in their interviews at the end.

I’m reluctant to say that either player deserved to win more than the other, but Djokovic demonstrated once again what a superb all-round player he is. Man, this guy just has no weaknesses. At the baseline in particular I thought that more often than not the advantage went to him.

Federer, nevertheless, was a joy to watch. What he is achieving at the age of 37 is quite stunning. Should he have taken one of his two match points? I’m certainly not going to point the finger at the great man, but what you can say is that pressure gets to everybody.

Nine out of 10 times Federer would have won one of those two match points, but you never can tell what goes through a player’s mind in a situation like that. Djokovic, too, had moments where he seemed to be feeling the pressure, which shouldn’t be a surprise given the enormity of the prize.

One of the other lessons that I felt came out of this fortnight was that the two-handed backhand will generally get the better of a one-handed backhand. When you have a two-handed backhand like Djokovic’s it’s a fantastic weapon.

Looking ahead, I still see Federer, Djokovic and Rafael Nada as the players to beat in the immediate future. For Federer and Nadal, meanwhile, Djokovic is always likely to be a huge obstacle in their path. Nadal of course has an advantage on clay, but on any other surface Djokovic is always likely to be the favourite.

While the last fortnight has confirmed the supremacy of the Big Three, I think there’s no question that some of the younger players, like Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev, will have their day in the end.

There are just so many excellent young players around at the moment. I see at least eight or 10 youngsters out there who could be Grand Slam champions.

The problem for all of them is that Federer and Nadal, even at 37 and 33, are still playing some of their best tennis, while Djokovic, at 32, looks like he will be around for a good while yet. When you have three heavyweights up there it’s tough for the young ones. At the biggest tournaments they know they are probably going to have to beat two out of the three to win the title.

In the women’s game, meanwhile, almost any of the top 10 or 20 players can win. You don’t have two or three dominant players like you do in the men’s game. And with so many good players around it’s hard to see someone like Serena Williams coming through to dominate in the future.

At the IMG Academy in Florida we were thrilled to see one of our students become the first Japanese player to win the Wimbledon boys’ singles title when Shintaro Mochizuki beat Carlos Gimeno-Valero 6-3, 6-2. He's only 16 and we believe he has a great future. I'm especially pleased for Masaaki Morita, who has played such a big part in bringing young Japanese players to the academy.

It’s been a wonderful fortnight once again and it’s been a thrill for me to be a part of The Independent’s coverage. I hope maybe to see some of you at our academy in the future.

For more information on the IMG Academy’s tennis programmes email info@imgacademy.com or call +1-800-872-6425