Wimbledon introduced a fifth-set tie-break at 12-12 for the 2019 championships, after the semi-final two years earlier that had run to 26-24. The first final under the new rule went to it.
The score that does not describe it
Novak Djokovic won 7-6, 1-6, 7-6, 4-6, 13-12. Roger Federer won more points across the match — 218 to 204 — and more games. He served for the title at 8-7 in the fifth and reached 40-15. Djokovic won the next four points.
What it says about the era
Djokovic’s record in deciding sets against the other two members of his generation was built on exactly this: an ability to raise his level on the points that end matches rather than across the ones that fill them.
Federer was 37 and had been the better player for four hours and fifty-seven minutes. That is a hard thing to hold two ideas about at once, and it is the reason people still watch the last twenty minutes of it.
