Self Belief Spurred on Weary Kevin Anderson

Kevin Anderson never got going in the Wimbledon final and there are several reasons why he failed to fire.

Following his marathon matches against Roger Federer in the quarter-final and John Isner in the semi-final, the South African was running on fumes. Needless to say, he was quite hopelessly and hilariously out of his depth in the biggest match of his career.

His foot work was laboured and Novak Djokovic barely broke a sweat in the opening two sets.

By the time he got going in the third set, the match was all but gift-wrapped for the Serb. But despite all this, there are plenty of positives to take away from the Wimbledon final.

Many doubted his ability to repeat his 2017 US Open heroics, but, armed with self belief, Anderson got himself deep into the tournament.

Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber was one of a few players who felt the South African had the game to upset Federer.

“I think most is self-belief, especially with him. We don’t speak a lot but I think he’s kind of a guy who he likes to be for himself and for his own team,” Kohlschreiber said.

“I think if he believes [he can] beat Roger on grass, I think he can do it, because the game is big.”

His wait for a Grand Slam title continues, but with the Next Gen of Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov and Nick Kyrgios continuing to falter in the majors, Anderson is waiting in the wings.

“Even though it was a huge goal of mine, if you asked me this time a year ago, I don’t think I could sit here and say I really believe that I can win a Grand Slam and a Masters Series and say it with the same self-belief and confidence that I can now.”