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London: Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams revived an old tradition as the Wimbledon winners celebrated their titles by dancing together to the Bee Gees` hit `Night Fever` at the annual champions dinner.
Fresh from their respective triumphs on Centre Court over the weekend, Djokovic and Williams were back in the spotlight late on Sunday evening as the pair became the first champions to dance together at the gala event at the London Guildhall since Bjorn Borg and Chris Evert in 1976.
But while three-time Wimbledon winner Djokovic wanted a “sophisticated waltz”, it was Serena, a six-time champion at the All England Club, who called the tune.
The 33-year-old American, who beat Spain`s Garbine Muguruza in Saturday`s final, selected 1970s disco classic `Night Fever` and Djokovic, a four-set winner over Roger Federer on Sunday, gamely joined his fellow world number one in showing off his best dance moves.
“There was no practice, I suggested the idea to (All England Club chairman) Philip Brook and Serena, and fortunately they accepted,” Djokovic said on Monday.
“I was very pleased because Serena is a great dancer.
“I was thinking of more of a waltz – something more sophisticated, something that blends into the environment and the beautiful hall we were in.
“But Serena wanted to move a bit more and we considered other options.
“So it was Night Fever. Night Fever came to life and you can imagine how that looked.”
Once the partying had come to an end in the early hours of Monday, Djokovic returned to Wimbledon to discuss his ninth major title.
After passing greats like Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl on the list of major winners, the 28-year-old Serb finds himself ranked among the legends of the sport.
It`s no longer inconceivable that he could match the record 17 Grand Slam titles won by Federer and the 14 of Rafael Nadal.
“In terms of reaching them I don`t want to say it`s too early, it`s probably the right time to talk about it, but it`s still far away,” Djokovic said.
“I know what it takes to win one grand slam. It takes a lot of effort, a lot of things have to come together.
“To reach those two guys would be incredible but honestly, I`m not thinking about it right now.”
Djokovic`s next shot at a Grand Slam comes in August at the US Open, where he has won the title once and suffered four final defeats.
With his confidence sky-high after reaching all three major finals this year, Djokovic expects to mount a serious challenge for his second title in New York.
“I am approaching the US Open this year with two grand slams won and one final,” Djokovic said.
“The confidence level is very high and I`m going to use that to have a shot at the title.
“I`m not the only player who is going to New York to win the trophy, but if you look at the consistency of my results at the US Open I think it`s been my best grand slam.”
