He watched the first tennis tournament, the Wimbledon championships, when he was four years old. And his dream since then was that, one day, he would be the one who lifts the trophy of the most prestigious competition in this particular sport.

Novak Djokovic achieved his childhood dream last Sunday, 20 years later. They were 20 years of hard work, dedication, sacrifice and, why not, ambition to reach the top. Two of those years were spent, as a teenager, far away from home to continue developing the natural skills he was born with for the game.

Tennis needs players like Djokovic. For too long, the sport was dominated by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, two of the greatest players that the game has ever seen. But tennis needed new faces, and over the past years, and in particular over the past months, Djokovic finally exploded onto the scene.

He has been a professional for quite some time, and had won the Australian Open in 2008, which at the time was a rare victory for anyone other than Nadal and Federer, who shared the titles between them.

But leading his country, Serbia, to the Davis Cup victory last December was the boost in confidence that Djokovic needed to make the final step forward. He repeated his Australian Open feat at the start of the season, and kept on winning match after match, earning points to move closer to the top of the world tennis rankings.

This year, he has lost only once, to Federer in the Roland Garros semi-final. He has beaten all other opponents and won all the other tournaments he has played in, including defeating Nadal in two finals in Rome and Madrid. He totalled 43 wins on the trot, a string of victories that was broken in France.

The cherry in the cake arrived last Sunday when he once again overcame the challenge of the Spanish master to win Wimbledon for the first time.

In the semi-finals, when he overcame Frenchman Tsonga, Djokovic knew he would be number one independently of the outcome of the final. But it would have been a bitter number one spot for him if he had been beaten by Nadal.

Showing psychological and physical strength, and overcoming the more difficult moments with outstanding determination, Djokovic was clearly the better player on the Wimbledon grass.

Sometimes, childhood dreams do come true.