Photo: Carine06 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped. This adapted image is also licensed CC BY-SA 2.0.
Novak Djokovic is Wimbledon champion again. The plant-based Serb came from a set down to beat Nick Kyrgios 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) on Centre Court today, winning his seventh Wimbledon title and his 21st Grand Slam singles title.
It's his fourth Wimbledon in a row, and only four other men in the Open Era have won the same major four years running: Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. It was also a record 32nd Grand Slam final for Djokovic, one more than Federer. With 21 majors he moves past Federer's 20 and to within one of Nadal.
Kyrgios, playing his first Grand Slam final, took the opening set. Djokovic won the next three, closing it out by winning the fourth-set tiebreak 7-3. At 35, he now has seven Wimbledon titles, the first of them in 2011.
Djokovic has eaten a plant-based diet for years, and he describes himself as plant-based rather than vegan. He has said he eats a little fish now and then. After his Australian Open semi-final in 2020, he told reporters:
I’m very pleased to be plant-based and play at this level. There’s been a lot of criticism. People around me didn’t really think that I could do that. There was a lot of doubt and a lot of question marks.
In the same press conference he called it "a lifestyle more than just a diet", rooted in what he sees happening to animals. The diet change came with other changes, including going gluten-free, which he credits for his endurance.
We were courtside in spirit for the longest Wimbledon final, when he saved two championship points against Federer in 2019. Last year he won three majors to reach 20, and last month fellow plant-based player Hubert Hurkacz beat the world No. 1 to win Halle.
Seven Wimbledons, 21 majors. Powered by plants.