By Lauren Lynch                                                Photo Credit:Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

(July 3, 2011) It was a battle of the current No. 1 versus the future No. 1. Come Monday, Novak Djokovic will be on top of the rankings and the new defending champion at Wimbledon for the first time.

Djokovic played at the top of his game and took two hours, 28 minutes to dethrone the 2010 champion Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. He adds the Wimbledon trophy to his two Australian Open crowns on Sunday.

This marks the first time that Djokovic has defeated Nadal at a Grand Slam tournament and their head-to-head series is now16- 12, ending the Spaniard's 20-match winning streak at Wimbledon. The only other time that they met at The Championships was in 2007, where Djokovic retired in the third set and was the World No. 6.

“It’s really hard to describe this with words but it is the best day of my life,” he told the crowd after collecting his trophy. “I’ve always dreamed of this. Thank you all for coming and making this day even more special. That’s probably my best match on grass. I would like to congratulate Rafa for having a great tournament.”

He owns a 48-1 record in 2011. The only man to beat Djokovic in 2011 is infact Roger Federer at the French Open semifinal.

Djokovic got through Jeremy Chardy, Kevin Anderson, Marcos Baghdatis, Michael Llodra, Bernard Tomic, and Jo- Wilfried Tsonga in succession to get to the final against Nadal.

Nadal went into the match having admitted to the Associated Press that, "Mentally he is in a better position than me probably because he won the last four finals against me."

“Wimbledon is the most special tournament. I can imagine how Novak feels,” Nadal recalls taking the title twice to the press.“Seriously, I lost because I was playing against the best player of the moment, the best player of the world tomorrow."

Nadal defeated Michael Russell, Ryan Sweeting, Gilles Muller, Juan Martin Del Potro, Mardy Fish, and Andy Murray in the journey to his fifth final at the All England Club.

"I've been dreaming of winning this tournament for 20 years," Djokovic told John McEnroe, who reminded him that he is now the best player in the world, "I did it all perfectly except for the third set"

Djokovic has his whole family watching him and in the Royal Box there was The Duke of Kent, Serbian president Boris Tadic, Wimbledon legends Bjorn Borg, Peter Fleming, Justin Gimelstob and John Newcombe, golfer Rory McIlroy, Formula 1’s Jenson Button and former British Prime Minster Sir John Major watching.

The first set started with a strong service game from Djokovic and Nadal but Djokovic was winning more points on his first serve. In the final game of the set, Novak came back on Nadal's serve up 30-0 to break with some long rallies and winners.

Djokovic took hold of the second set with a break of serve at 2-0 and 5-1. The Spaniard was only able to hold serve at 1-3 and Djokovic closed out the set to love.

The third was the only time in the match where Djokovic was not in total-domination mode.

At 2-0, Djokovic recovered from 0-30 to 30-30 but then hit two unforced errors to give the Nadal the break and confidence to hold the remaining games. The Serbian double faulted again at break point in favor of Nadal at 5-1.

It was all over in the final set when Djokovic remembered how he has defeated the former No. 1 four times previously this year by breaking at 2-0. Nadal immediately broke back with a lucky net cord shot but that would be the only break for him.

Nadal made his first double fault of the match at 5-3 and Djokovic took advantage of dip. He held to win the match and celebrated by throwing racquets into the crowd and eating some grass as No. 1 in the World.

Djokovic will be the 25th player to reach No. 1.