The 20 best photographs from Wimbledon 2014 – in pictures

An umpire on Court 12 is silhouetted by rainclouds as the 2014 Wimbledon Championships begin on 23 June Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Spectators watch matches on the outside courts at Wimbledon on the third day of the Championships Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

Slovakia's Domimika Cibulkova of Slovakia serves to Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic during their third round match Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP

Rafael Nadal hits a return during his match against Nick Kyrgios of Australia ... Photograph: Max Rossi/Reuters

…but the young Australian announced himself on the world stage with a remarkable performance to defeat Nadal Photograph: Al Bello/Getty

Rafael Nadal looks bewildered during the defeat Photograph: CARL COURT/AFP

Last month the German-Jamaican Dustin Brown also defeated Nadal in a Wimbledon warm-up event in Halle, Germany. Here, he serves during a first-round doubles match with Jan-Lennard Struff against Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty

Serena Williams suffered a shock defeat by Alize Cornet of France. After the game she said: “Right now I don’t know what I did wrong. Normally I do. But it gives me a mission to work on to see what I can do to be better.” Three days later she was forced to retire during a doubles match with her sister Venus, suffering from a viral illness Photograph: Steve Bardens/Getty

Maria Sharapova plays a forehand return against Germany's Angelique Kerber on day eight. After seven match points, Kerber finally defeated the French Open champion Sharapova who joined Serena Williams and Li Na out of the tournament relatively early Photograph: Al Bello/Getty

Canada's Eugenie Bouchard returns during her semi-final victory against Romania's Simona Halep. She won the match in straight sets to reach the final ...
Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

…where she was crushed by a breathtaking and ruthless display by Petra Kvitova Photograph: Reuters

Defending champion Andy Murray reacts to losing a point against Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov during their quarter-final match ... Photograph: Andrew Cowie/AFP

… Murray was defeated in straight sets in a lacklustre performance after looking so good in the previous rounds Photograph: Toby Melville/EPA

Stanislas Wawrinka hits a return against Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan. Wawrinka had to play threee matches in three days and eventually ran out of steam against Swiss compatriot Roger Federer in the quarter-finals Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

A grounded Novak Djokovic, part 1: Djokovic of takes a fall against Gilles Simon of France in the third round Photograph: Valdrin Xhemaj/EPA

A grounded Novak Djokovic, part 2: Djokovic and Grigor Dimitrov try to play on the ground after both fell in the semi-final Photograph: Tatyana Zenkovich/EPA

And so to the classic final, photographer Toby Melville takes a wide view of the Centre Court where Novak Djokovic hits a return against Roger Federer Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Federer played some of his best tennis in years especially fighting back to win five games in a row in the epic fourth set Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

But when Djokovkch looked down deep into the match, he demonstrated his true class and intensity to defeat Federer. Although visibly upset in this photograph by Tom Jenkins, Federer displayed his characteristic good grace in defeat
Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

A grounded Novak Djokovic, part 3: In this final photograph, again by Tom Jenkins, Novak Djokovic celebrates victory by falling to the ground again - this time to eat some of the Centre Court grass
Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian