Wimbledon: Feisty Djokovic shows his ruthless nature

The world number one beat the legendary Swiss master in the final at SW19 for the second successive year on Sunday.

A ruthless Djokovic claimed his ninth grand slam title - and third at the All England Club - by winning another pulsating clash of the titans 7-6 (7-1) 6-7 (10-12) 6-4 6-3.

Federer won the grass-court major five years in a row from 2003 to 2007 and has since taken his tally of Wimbledon titles to seven.

An eighth Wimbledon crown has proved to be elusive, though, as Djokovic now rules the roost.

Seventeen-time grand-slam champion Federer has not won a major since seeing off Andy Murray in the 2012 Wimbledon final, but took his latest defeat on the chin.

He produced an impressive performance, but came up short against the irrepressible Djokovic - who was able to shift through the gears to claim yet another title.

Federer will turn 34 next month, but he clearly has no intention of ending his stellar career just yet and his time may come again at Wimbledon.

But Djokovic will take some stopping and at the age of 28, it is anybody's guess how many grand slam titles he could go on to claim.

Federer has shown age is no barrier despite what is becoming a slam drought by his incredibly high standards and said he can reflect on the last fortnight with great satisfaction.

"I still think I had a great tournament," he said post-defeat. "You can have good tournaments without winning.

"I still won six matches, lost one. The ratio still remains very good. But of course you sort of walk away empty handed. For me a finalist trophy is not the same. Everybody knows that.

"Thankfully I've won here in the past, so it does not feel like I'm chasing anything."

Djokovic stated that Federer is the greatest player of all time before facing him on Sunday, but he is no doubt the cream of the crop at the moment.

The manner in which he put the disappointment of losing the French Open final to Stan Wawrinka last month behind him was particularly impressive as he claimed his second grand slam of the year.

"I'm thrilled and very proud with all the success that I had so far in the career, everything I reached," Djokovic said.

"If you would ask me as a 14-year-old back in Serbia trying to find my way, you know, that this is how I'm going to end up at 28, of course I would sign the deal and take it right away."

There will surely be many more to come from the classy Serb and it remains to be seen if Federer can get his hands on the famous Challenge Cup again.

Djokovic has it firmly in his grasp and it will take something spcial to prise it away from him next year.