WIMBLEDON, England — A poor start saw Carlos Alcaraz claw a single point from a two-set deficit against Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.
Such a deficit is disheartening for anyone, let alone a 20-year-old in his second grand final, and against anyone, let alone Djokovic, someone who hasn’t lost on Center Court in a decade and who is in the fifth Aiming for consecutive championships and a record-breaking eighth overall at the All England Club. Someone who has won the first two Grand Slam tournaments of the year and 23 in his career.
Ah, but Alcaraz, last year’s US Open champion, wanted that shot at Djokovic, someone he called “a legend of our sport.” He said it would make winning Wimbledon that much more special. And so Alcaraz managed to prevail in this tiebreaker as the choruses of “Car-los! Car-los!” From the stands, he vied with the cries of the two-syllable nickname of his older, more experienced, and accomplished opponent: “No-le! No-le!” And then, shortly afterwards, Alcaraz prevailed in a 25-minute league game with 32 points. And, what was crucial, the Spaniard also came through in the decisive fifth set.
Adding it all up, No. 1-seeded Alcaraz emerged as the star people had predicted, turning his potential into triumph and ending Djokovic’s 34-game winning streak at the All England Club in one fell swoop, overtaking him, by beating him 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in a gripping back-and-forth final on Sunday. Alcaraz clinched his first Wimbledon title and second Grand Slam trophy overall.
“I didn’t go down, didn’t give up,” said Alcaraz, the third youngest man to win the grass major in the Open era that began in 1968, after Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg. “We did great rallies, scored great points. It was a long, long game. Long sentences. It was the mental part that allowed me to stay there.”
He is the first man outside of the elite quartet of Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray since 2002 to win Wimbledon, and for many it symbolized a transfer of power in men’s tennis.
“I’ve never played against a player like him. Always,” said Djokovic, quite a statement from a man who has faced Federer and Nadal for so long and in so many notable matches.
“He proved,” said Djokovic, “that he is undoubtedly the best player in the world.”
The age gap between Alcaraz and 36-year-old Djokovic, who wiped tears from his eyes during the trophy ceremony, was the widest in a men’s Slam final since 1974.
So Alcaraz had youth on his side, which of course he did when they met in the semi-finals of the French Open last month. That was exceptional for two sets before Alcaraz tensed up and slacked off. This time he had the stamina and the punches to get past Djokovic – and the belief he could win.
After Alcaraz made nine unforced errors in the first set, Djokovic two, showing signs of the nervousness that had hit him in Paris, things started to change on Sunday. At 4-1 in set number two, Djokovic slipped on a worn patch behind the baseline under the royal box and threw his racquet away as he fell. On the next substitution, Djokovic flexed one leg by bending it over the other, then dropped his left heel onto the net for added stretch.
They faced a tie-breaker, Djokovic’s reign: he’d won all six of those set-end games he played at Wimbledon through to the final, and 15 of those straight at Grand Slam tournaments.
Djokovic was not disturbed by a warning from referee Fergus Murphy, who took too much time to serve, and won 6: 5. A fixed point.
But two backhand hits from Djokovic put Alcaraz on a point of that set.
“The backhand kind of let me down,” Djokovic later said.
Alcaraz then hit a backhand winner after a 118mph serve while maintaining the pose of his breakthrough. As people in the stands got up to yell, Alcaraz turned around with his right hand to his ear and savored the moment.
“If I had lost that set, I probably wouldn’t have been able to win the trophy,” said Alcaraz. “I probably could have lost in three sets.”
It lasted two hours and two sets.
One sentence each.
Now it was a match.
It was beginning to feel unforgettable.
The fifth game of the third set could have been worth the high ticket price in itself. Neither man wanted to bend. Nobody wanted to give up anything. It was one game, yes, but it seemed meaningful.
When Djokovic netted a forehand to be broken – one of five times he’d lost serve in the game, more than his previous six opponents managed combined – Alcaraz celebrated his 4-1 lead in the set by clinching his Throwing back his head and shouting, “Vamos!”
But Djokovic didn’t walk away. He increased his level again and increased this grandiose duel to the fifth set.
One of several reasons to appreciate Djokovic’s chances at this point: he went into Sunday with a record of 10-1 in five sets at Wimbledon and 35-9 in all majors.
However, those games were in the past.
Alcaraz is the future.
Its impact speed is over 130 miles per hour. His forehand sledgehammer reaches speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour and is unleashed in a manner that makes the observer believe he is putting every ounce of strength, every fiber of his body, into every swing. The bang of the bat and its “Uhhh-ehhh!” exhalation of effort — along with the gasps of impressed spectators — echoed around the arena.
He shows as varied a game as possible, starting with his volleying skills to the well-disguised drop shots that helped him get back into the thick of the action in sets two and three.
Djokovic, on the other hand, also has a wealth of talent and enormous muscle memory. So many times he had to frantically stretch, almost slipping into the splits, to win back Alcaraz’s seemingly decisive shots in a way no one else could.
Besides, he was there and did it in a way that Alcaraz can only dream of at the moment.
But if that win on a windy and overcast day is any indication, Alcaraz is well on its way to making things of its own.
With a break and a winning goal with a backhand pass, he finally took the lead in the fifth round and took a 2-1 lead. Djokovic, who went down during the point but quickly recovered, responded by slamming his racquet into the net post and releasing it on impact. He destroyed his equipment and received a code violation from Murphy.
“Frustration at the moment,” Djokovic called it.
They played on for 24 minutes but Alcaraz never gave in, never gave in, no matter what the skill and will of the man on the other side of the net. And it was Alcaraz, not Djokovic, who covered his face after the last point, rolled in the grass and then accepted the gold trophy.
“It’s something I’ll never forget,” said Alcaraz. “That’s for sure.”
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