July 11th, 2021 - For the first time in Wimbledon's famed history, the men’s singles final match between Novak Đoković and Matteo Berrettini will have a female umpire: it will be the Croatian umpire, Marija Čičak.

After the great success of the Croatian doubles, Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić, who have secured their first Wimbledon title yesterday, some Croatian flavour will be present today on the Wimbledon Centre Court. Marija Čičak is one of the world's top tennis umpires, and her amazing career will reach one of its greatest moments today. She has already been in the position of running the Wimbledon finals: in 2014, she was the chair umpire as Serena Williams beat Garbine Mugguruza, and in 2017 she umpired the female doubles finals.

But, a female umpire on the last day, the men's singles final match? That has not happened at the All England Club!

US Open, another Grand Slam tournament saw two female umpires officiating both female and male finals in 2015 - and, yes, Marija Čičak was one of them, in charge of the female finals, while Eva Asderaki-Moore sat in the chair for the men's finals. But, things change even at the bastions of tradition, and Wimbledon is absolutely one of those.

Marija Čičak, 43, was born and raised in Zagreb, where she played tennis until the age of 18. During her university years, the Croatian umpire tells in an interview with WTA tennis last year, she started officiating as a hobby, never expecting to become a professional. And after being a pro umpire, she can say that she's achieved it all!

Novak Đoković of Serbia will be playing for his 20th Grand Slam title today, his 6th in the All England Club against the 7th seed, Italian Matteo Berrettini. Berrettini also made history for his nation, being the first Italian singles player in the Wimbledon finals.

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July 11, 2021 - Croatian tennis players Nikola Metkić and Mate Pavić are the Wimbledon champions! Bravo!

The best tennis pair in the world, Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić are the winners of this year's Wimbledon. They defeated Spaniard Marcel Granollers and Argentine Horace Zeballos in the final 6-4, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-5 after two hours and 43 minutes of play.

For Pavić, this is the third Grand Slam won in the men's doubles competition. In 2018, he won the Australian Open with Oliver Marach, and last year the US Open with Bruno Soares, while Mektić won his first in this competition. For Mektić and Pavić, this was already the 10th final of this season and the eighth title, but convincingly the biggest.

To win the first set, one "break" was enough for Mektic and Pavic, which they achieved in the seventh game when they combined several excellent backhands on Granollers' serve and took a 4-3 lead. The Croatian duo had two chances to take the serve away from Zeballos in the ninth game, but the Argentine got away with excellent serves. However, Pavić calmly brought the first part of the game to an end with a good service game at 5-4.

In the second set, no pair got a chance to take the service away from the opponent, so the winner was decided by a tie-break. And in it, an unusual situation occurred when Zeballos covered the volley on the net only for the main judge Aurelie Tourte to award a point to the Croatian pair because the Argentine was playing with a racket over the net. In addition, Granollers made a double service error on the set point of the Croatian pair, so Mektić and Pavić arrived on the set after winning Wimbledon.

Unfortunately, the beginning of the third set was the worst period of the game for the Croatian combination. First, after two bad reactions on the net, Granollers and Zeballos reached an irreparable advantage. They were also the only two games in which Granollers and Zeballos had break points and both won.

Mektic and Pavic twice threatened to take the serve away from Zeballos in the fourth set, the first time with a 3-2 lead when they were 15-40, but the Argentine first served well and then played an incredible volley. With the 5-4 advantage of the Croatian pair, Mektić and Pavić reached the match point, but the service winner followed again. However, with 6-5 for Mektić and Pavić, our pair started the game with two returns, reached 0-30, and Zeballos offered the second match ball with a missed volley. Another great return followed, but the Spaniard and the Argentine refused to surrender, but one of those defensive shots finally ended up in the net, so the celebration of 32-year-old Mektic and 28-year-old Pavic could begin.

For the Granollers, this was their fourth appearance in the men's doubles final at the "grand slam" and their fourth defeat, while Zeballos lost both of its previous finals.

FINAL RESULT:

NIKOLA MEKTIC / MATE PAVIC (CRO / 1) - Marcel Granollers / Horacio Zeballos (Spa / Arg / 4) 6-4, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-5

Source: Sportske Novosti

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