"A turning point for Novak Djokovic" - Wimbledon 2014 final against Roger Federer gave Serb confidence to handle big occasions better, says analyst

Tennis analyst Gill Gross has said that the 2014 Wimbledon Championships final against Roger Federer was the turning point of Novak Djokovic's career.

Federer and Djokovic locked horns in the final at SW19 in 2014, where the latter won 6(7)-7, 6-4, 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-4 to clinch the second Wimbledon title of his career and seventh Major overall.

That win also saw Djokovic replace Rafael Nadal as the World No. 1.

On the latest episode of the Monday Match Analysis podcast, Gross stated that the win against Federer that year was crucial for the Serbian as it gave him confidence in handling big occasions well, which has held him in good stead since.

"I can buy that the quality was better in 2014. It's certainly a match that probably doesn't get enough recognition, especially because it was a turning point for Djokovic. I mean, from that point on, Novak was someone who really handled the occasion of Major finals as well as anybody we've ever seen, whereas up until that point that was certainly not the case. It was quite the contrary," he opined.

"Novak was losing a lot of Major finals up until this match, where I think with Boris Becker in his corner and this win over Federer in a five-set Wimbledon final, this kind of gave him the confidence to kind of do what he ended up doing in Major finals for what has been kind of the remainder of his career," he added.

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"The match that left the legacy" - Tennis analyst on the 2019 Wimbledon final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer

Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in the 2019 Wimbledon final.

That said, Gill Gross believes that the 2019 Wimbledon Championships final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic has a bigger legacy in the latter's career than the 2014 final.

In 2019, Djokovic defeated Federer 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 13-12(7-3) in the final at SW19, which, at four hours and 57 minutes, became the longest singles final in Wimbledon history.

It was an incredible win for the Serbian as he saved two championship points before emerging victorious, the first man since Bob Falkenburg in 1948 to do so at the grass Major.

"That said, there's a reason 2019 has left the legacy that it has and 2014 hasn't. The fact that by 2019 Djokovic was not far behind Federer. And there was a really widespread recognition that this match was going to be essential when it came to who finished with the most Slams when it was all said and done. That was the feeling at the time," he said.

"Now, what would that have been the case or not? You know, you really never know and frankly probably not. But at the time it felt like that. You had the crowd, I think, recognizing that and recognizing that it may have been Federer's last chance," he added.

Gross also pointed to how the fans were fully behind Federer in that match and said that while the 2014 Wimbledon final might have had better quality, the 2019 final was better viewing for fans.

"And you know there's always been a love affair between the Wimbledon crowd and Federer. We know what the crowd was like on that occasion, the way that Djokovic responded to that and handled that was supremely memorable. The fact that it went kind of into extra time in the fifth set," he continued.

"2019 rightly so is the match that left the legacy, more so than 2014. You can give me quality but I would still counter that 2019 was a better and more epic experience as a viewer," he concluded.