Defeat the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz Novak Djokovic on Sunday in an epic Wimbledon final that included a 24-minute singles match.
Djokovic took the first set 6-1 but Alcaraz came back to win the next two. But Djokovic forced a fifth set before falling behind Alcaraz early in that set, before coming back just 5-4 down. But Alcaraz took the next match, giving him the match win and the gold trophy.
The final pitted Alcaraz against Djokovic, who in June won his 23rd Grand Slam titlesetting the men’s record.
Instead of Djokovic, a 36-year-old Serbian, who became Wimbledon’s oldest men’s champion in the Open era, Alcaraz, a 20-year-old Spaniard, became the third youngest. The age gap between the two was the largest in any men’s Slam final since 1974.
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So Alcaraz had youth on his side, which he did, of course, when they met at the French Open last month. That one was extraordinary for two sets before Alcaraz crumbled and faded. This time, he had the stamina and the strokes to overcome Djokovic.
Alcaraz is faster and capable of more power — he tops out at 130 mph, straights top 100 mph — but Djokovic is equipped with a wealth of talent and plenty of muscle memory. He’s been there and done that, in a way that Alcaraz, for now, can only dream of.
But if this victory on a windy, overcast day on Center Court, where Djokovic last lost in the 2013 final, was any indication, Alcaraz is on his way to achieving something himself.
This is all relatively new for him, though: Djokovic’s 35th Grand Slam final was Alcaraz’s second.
However, it was Alcaraz who won a mini-masterpiece of 32 points and 25 minutes of a match en route to taking the third set. And it was Alcaraz who moved forward for good by breaking to go up 2-1 in the fifth with a backhand winner. Djokovic, who fell during the point but got back up quickly, reacted by slamming his racket into the net post, letting loose at impact. He destroyed his team and earned himself a code violation from chair umpire Fergus Murphy.
They continued to play for another 24 minutes, totaling over 4 1/2 hours, but Alcaraz never gave up, never gave up. And it was Alcaraz, not Djokovic, who covered his face and rolled on the grass after the last point, then received the gold trophy.
“What quality at the end of the match,” Djokovic told Alcaraz during the post-match ceremony. “You deserve it, absolutely.”
Alcaraz possesses a hammer forehand, one that he throws in such a way that makes an observer believe that every ounce of strength, indeed every fiber of his being, is invested in every swing. The tap of the racket, and his “Uhhh-ehhh!” The exhale of effort, along with the groans of impressed spectators, echoed through the arena on Sunday.
That’s not to say, of course, that Alcaraz’s attributes end at this big right. He is much more than that, displaying as varied an all-court game as possible, which is why his stardom is predicted. He does everything well, including the well-disguised drop shots that helped him get back in the deep in the second and third sets.
Djokovic, of course, has already achieved greatness, spending more weeks at No. 1 than any man or woman in the half-century history of the computerized rankings and amassing those 23 Grand Slam triumphs, one more than Rafael Nadal and three more than roger Federer, the only man with eight Wimbledon titles.
Often on Sunday, Djokovic hustled and stretched and slid almost into splits to get Alcaraz’s apparent forehand shots back into the net in a way no one else could.
Things began to change, however, at 4-all in the second set. Djokovic slipped on a worn patch behind the baseline under the Royal Box, throwing his racket as he fell. In the next change, Djokovic flexed one leg by bending it over the other. Before returning to the court to resume play, he dropped his left heel into the net for additional stretches. Soon, his legs weren’t providing the same coverage they had been, the strength of his right waning.
They would be heading to a tiebreaker, Djokovic’s reign: He had won all six set-enders he played at Wimbledon before the final, and 15 consecutive in Grand Slam action, dating back to the Australian Open.
This time, Djokovic had a set point as he took a 6-5 lead in the tiebreaker, prompting the day’s first chants of his two-syllable nickname from his sponsors: “No-le! No-le! ” But he put a backhand into the net for the 6, and as the players switched sides, a competitive chorus of “Car them! Car them!” arose.
Another backhand at the net from Djokovic put Alcaraz within a set point. He turned to hit a passing backhand into a 118mph return winner, then held his follow-through. As the crowd in the stands rose to roar, Alcaraz turned with a right hand to his ear, soaking up the moment.
Two hours and two series.
One set each.
Now it was a match.
Now this was starting to feel memorable.
The fifth game of the third set might have been worth the high price of admission, in and of itself. Neither of them wanted to bend. Neither wanted to give anything up. It was a game, yes, but it seemed much more meaningful than that.
When Djokovic hit a forehand into the net to break Alcaraz, one of five in the match, more than the combined three that Djokovic’s previous six opponents managed in 103 service games over the past two weeks, and a 4-1 lead in the set. , the Spaniard threw back his head and shouted, “Let’s go!”
Djokovic headed to the locker room with a white team bag slung over his right shoulder. He’s used those kind of breaks to recover and change the momentum, and of course he pushed this fantastic match to a fifth set.
One of several reasons to like Djokovic’s chances at the time: He entered Sunday with a 10-1 five-set record at Wimbledon and 35-9 in all majors.
Those games, however, were in the past.
Alcaraz is the future.
“I’ve learned very, very quickly,” said Alcaraz, who later received a hug from Spain’s King Felipe VI, “and I’m very, very proud.”
