World No. 1 Rafael Nadal says Novak Djokovic has regained his top-level tennis.
Djokovic believes he's producing his peak play right now.
More: Djokovic Sweeps Fourth Wimbledon Crown
Moments after Djokovic defeated eighth-seeded Kevin Anderson, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (3) to capture his fourth Wimbledon crown and 13th Grand Slam championship, he said his current level of play is better than when he completed the career Grand Slam in 2016.
I'm very close if not better," Djokovic told ESPN's Tom Rinaldi. "Yes, why not? I can make that kind of statement. It's just very hard for me to compare any year because considering all the circumstances I was in the last 15 to 20 months with the surgery, change of racquets and so forth, it's hard to say I am 70 percent of that [2016] game or I'm 20 percent better."
The 31-year-old Serbian, who won his first title since the 2016 Eastbourne, points to an improved serve as a primary reason why he's playing his best now.
Djokovic tried streamlining his service motion to take some stress off his surgically-repaired elbow and even tinkered with the weight and balance of his Head racquet.
The 12th seed cracked a career-best 23 aces out-dueling the top-ranked Nadal in a marathon semifinal over two days and denied all seven break points he faced against Anderson, who dethroned eight-time champion Roger Federer in the quarterfinals then won the longest Centre Court match in history over John Isner in the semifinals.
"I think that my serve worked really well maybe even better than when I won against Roger back in 2015," Djokovic said. "Today, I played some really great tennis, especially coming back from two-day marathon against Nadal and managed to play first two sets quite amazing.
"I really felt great. Kevin stepped up and to be honest he was the better player for most of the third set. I managed to hold my composure, stay calm and look more matches you win, more confident, more you feel better about yourself, more you feel comfortable hitting the ball. There's no secret about that."
Anderson believes Djokovic's triumph over Nadal in the semifinals showed he's back physically.
"Obviously I think his match yesterday with Nadal was, you know, a big exclamation point to him to his physicality," Anderson said. "I think he struggled with his serve coming back after the elbow, but I felt when I've played him before, I didn't really notice. The serve was there today, how quick he was hitting it.
"I mean, if you look at the year he's had before he was injured, it was one of the most dominating years of all time. If he can match that, it would be an amazing effort. I don't think that's a fair benchmark to set to anybody. Obviously he's just won a Grand Slam again, his 13th. I think guys at the top can expect to see him on the other side of the net quite frequently."
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