In a new role as the quiet man of Centre Court, the relentless Novak Djokovic fended off a chatty, chuntering Nick Kyrgios in an absorbing Wimbledon final for a familiar ending and his fourth successive title. 

Playing in the broiling heat of the All England Club, with temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius, and with his opponent regularly talking to himself and his player's box between points, this could potentially have become a hot, fractious and chaotic afternoon for Djokovic.

Instead he put himself level with his boyhood idol Pete Sampras on seven Wimbledon titles. Now only Roger Federer, with eight, has won more. 

Crouching and snacking on a few blades of the Centre Court grass - because that's how he likes to celebrate his Wimbledon wins - Djokovic would also have been reflecting on how his victory brought him a 21st Grand Slam title, taking him to within one of Rafael Nadal's portfolio of 22.

Djokovic's earliest memory of watching tennis on television, and the match that inspired him to ask his parents for a racket, was seeing Sampras lift this trophy for the first time in 1993.

The American would go on to win six more titles, and now Djokovic has just as many.

"I've lost words for what this tournament and what this trophy means to me. It always has been the most special tournament. It was the one that motivated me to play tennis. Every time this tournament gets more special and meaningful," said Djokovic. 

What a way to celebrate his wedding anniversary with his wife Jelena, and to move on from the emotional turbulence of being deported from Melbourne before January's Australian Open and from the disappointment of losing to Nadal in the quarter-finals of Roland-Garros.

Astonishingly, Andy Murray remains the last man to beat Djokovic on Centre Court, in the 2013 final. "He's a bit of a God," Kyrgios said. 

For the first time, the sport's most volatile character found himself in the white heat of a Grand Slam final, a scenario that he and almost everyone else in the sport had thought they would never see.

This felt like an exhilarating but potentially unwise experiment, a bit like dropping a large chunk of sodium in a champagne flute, standing back and watching it fizz.

For all his suggestions that he and Djokovic have been having "a bromance", there was never any expectation among the Centre Court crowd that the final would be played in an atmosphere as calm and tranquil as a yoga retreat.

Djokovic had been predicting "emotional fireworks" and he wasn't wrong. 

For the entire first set and much of the second, Kyrgios appeared to be handling the situation well, showing emotional control and composure.

It was from the end of the second set that he started regularly providing a monologue between points, and he became agitated midway through the third set, complaining to the umpire that a spectator - "the one who looks like she's had about 700 drinks" - was talking to him between first and second serves.

Kyrgios wanted the fan "kicked out" and the umpire picked up the phone. For his complaining, Kyrgios received a code violation from the umpire. 

Minutes later, the BBC also apologised for Kyrgios' language. That wouldn't be the last time they said sorry for the f-bombs. 

But there was no big blow-up moment, as had happened in his messy first round match against British wild card Paul Jubb or in his abrasive third round encounter with Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas. 

Every Wimbledon finalist experiences nervous tension. But the sense during the build-up to this final was that Kyrgios was going to be edgier than most.

It wasn't just that he was appearing in a match of this magnitude for the first time, but also that he hadn't played since Wednesday, having had a walkover through Friday's semi-finals after Nadal withdrew because of an abdominal injury.

Kyrgios had known since Thursday night that he was going to play in the Wimbledon final, which was a lot of time to think. Perhaps too much. Kyrgios was left edgy and sleepless.

All that tension and energy, which had been building for days, had to go somewhere, leading some to wonder what the opening minutes might bring. 

As it was, Kyrgios played pretty much faultless tennis in the opening set. Of the two, it was Djokovic, playing in his 32nd Grand Slam final, a record for the men 's game, who appeared to be jumpier on the grass.

While Kyrgios, in his opening service game of the match, produced a second serve ace and also hit an underarm serve, which, if not a first in a Wimbledon final, is most definitely a rarity.

There were a few occasions after that when Kyrgios faked an underarm serve. Djokovic didn't know what was coming next from Kyrgios - a conventional serve at almost 140mph, with the ball flying through the warm London air, or something more irreverent. 

While Kyrgios was saying this wasn't his "first rodeo" against Djokovic, having won their previous two meetings in 2017, there is a world of difference between beating him at hard court tournaments in Mexico and California and doing the same on the Centre Court grass in the Wimbledon final. 

The only break of the opening set came in the fifth game when Djokovic double-faulted at break point down. It was the third match in a row that Djokovic had had a slow start. He had lost the opening two sets of his quarter-final against Italy's Jannik Sinner and also the opening stanza of his semi-final with Britain's Cameron Norrie.

While everyone else in tennis has been trying to read Kyrgios' mind, Djokovic was more focused on attempting to read the Australian's serve.

He had been unable to do so on their first two meetings, which is why he hadn't won a set.

But this time the greatest returner in the sport's history had a much better read of what Kyrgios was doing with his serve.

Djokovic's response to going a set down against Kyrgios was to break the Australian's serve for the first time in their three meetings. He did so to love, helped by a net-cord winner, for a 3-1 lead.

When Djokovic came to serve for the set at 5-3, he found himself 0-40 down. He saved all three, helped by Kyrgios' backhand error on the last of those. Kyrgios had a fourth point to break but couldn't convert that either.

For the first time, Djokovic had won a set against Kyrgios, who launched into the first of his monologues. 

Serving at 4-4 in the third set, Kyrgios was 40-0 up and seemingly in control of the game, but somehow he lost five points in a row.

Sitting down on his chair, Kyrgios looked over at his box, asking them to get more involved: "Say something."

Djokovic took that set and then left the court, giving Kyrgios some thinking time on his chair. 

The fourth set, and so the match and the Championship, was decided in a tie-break, with the quiet man of Centre Court making himself heard once again.

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