For almost half a year there was a rivalry that could never take place. The No. 1 prodigy in the world against arguably the greatest player of all time.
Then, like a river breaching a dam, summer brought a showdown every month; on clay, then on grass, then on a hard court. A clever gift of variety from the tennis gods. One of them, an epic five-set duel that lasted nearly five hours, even took place on the game’s biggest stage and transcended sport. The excitement spread across the oceans as the drama built, in front of an audience full of people who rarely watch a tennis match with a candid view of the screen.
And so it was only fitting that this season there would be one final meeting between the King and the Crown Prince, in a final tournament where only the best of the best are allowed, and on another surface, an indoor hard court. And the way this year has gone, it’s also fitting that Novak Djokovic, world No. 1 at 36, will start 2024 with a clear lead over Carlos Alcaraz, the 20-year-old who is desperate to replace him .
Djokovic broke Alcaraz’s serve three times, but more importantly, he broke his spirit, sending a normally exuberant talent into a racket-throwing tirade and a ridiculous argument with his coach.
“He brings out the best in me,” Djokovic said, comparing Alcaraz’s challenge to his fights with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. “He makes sure that I prepare as well as possible for the game – I would compare it to Federer and Nadal. I had to do my best every time to win against them.”
Alcaraz congratulates Djokovic on his victory in Turin (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Playing in the fast-paced, air-conditioned environment in which he almost always seems to be at his best, Djokovic used strokes and subtleties to claw his way to a convincing straight-sets victory, defeating his up-and-coming rival in a sort of slow-motion strangulation, 6-3 took apart. 6-2 at the ATP Finals – virtually guaranteeing that the compelling narrative of this story and Alcaraz’s chase will remain alive until 2024.
“I want to beat this guy. I want to be the best in history,” said a distraught Alcaraz after the defeat. “It’s unbelievable what he does, he just breaks records and wins every tournament he takes part in. It’s crazy.”
The most memorable rivalries have the ability to describe a mini-era of the sport and the contrasting styles of the day, evoking a tennis zeitgeist with two words and a hyphen: Evert-Navratilova; Sampras Agassi; Federer-Nadal. They can take several years to marinate and reach their apotheosis, attracting the new eyeballs that are the lifeblood of every sport along the way.
Due to their age difference, Djokovic and Alcaraz will not have that luxury of time. All they can do now is bring a fleeting urgency to their generational duels that’s best caught while it lasts.
They know this as well as anyone else; they have even practiced together on occasion, most recently in Paris last month. A star on the rise and, even in his best moments, taking the sport to new heights and playing a game that no one is familiar with. The other uses all the finger strength and physical finesse of a skilled climber scaling Half Dome to stay on top of the game that has obsessed him since childhood.
Djokovic, once a young boy growing up in the war-torn Balkans with bombs all around him, now has gray patches on his stubble. Alcaraz, the child prodigy whose father was a professional and whose grandfather founded a tennis club, has a jaw and cheeks that still move even in his youth.
Although he has his moments of aggression, Djokovic remains the ultimate tactician and counterattacker. a finely tuned, albeit high-maintenance Formula 1 racing car. Alcaraz approaches the game from the other side, learning to mix nuance with his standard modes of power and exuberance; A first generation bullet train, still prone to breakdowns and breakdowns, but capable of breaking speed records.
He grew up with a poster of Roger Federer on his bedroom wall. But last month he admitted he was obsessed with Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam winner, who had reclaimed the No. 1 ranking with his latest tactical and relentless attack at the top of the game.
After all these years and all of his earned superiority, Djokovic would never be so careless as to admit that any rival, let alone a much younger one, is renting space in his brain. But it didn’t take a doctorate in psychology to understand the meaning of his words at the French Open earlier this year, when Alcaraz was one win away from his first Grand Slam match.
“This is the game a lot of people want to see,” he said. “Definitely a guy to beat here. I look forward to it.”
Last year, as his long-time rivals retired (Federer) and faded (Nadal), Djokovic looked for his next source of motivation. There was a race for the most Grand Slam singles titles, but tennis players are programmed to fight another human being.
Djokovic had been unable to play the American hardcourt swing due to his decision not to be vaccinated against Covid-19. While he was stuck in his homes in Europe, the world had fallen in love with Alcaraz, who overwhelmed the US Open and won his first Grand Slam title with a magnetic smile and a joyful, panting vigor that Djokovic lacked.
To snuff out the early fire of someone else, especially an exuberant teenage sensation whose career had been the steepest, fastest rise to the top the sport had ever seen…well, that was all the motivation he needed.
In his world, torches are not passed. They will be ripped away.
Or they don’t.
Djokovic takes control on Saturday en route to a straight-sets victory (Shi Tang/Getty Images)
Alcaraz was doomed by a loose forehand on Saturday evening and couldn’t find his timing as Djokovic took the ball so early. Alcaraz and his highlight-reel style proved no match for Djokovic, who somehow accepted his challenge and used it to deliver some of the best tennis shenanigans of all his life.
On Thursday night, after a three-set win over Hubert Hurkacz that he let get closer than it should have been, Djokovic knew his tour season was probably over. He had won two of his first three round-robin matches, but had lost sets in each of his victories, putting him on the brink of elimination. He needed Jannik Sinner, who had beaten him on Tuesday to take out Holger Rune, to stay alive.
Upset at having lost control of his fate, he said he planned to have dinner with his family and perhaps go swimming with the children in the hotel pool. He wasn’t planning on watching the game. Mentally, he seemed to be already in his car on the way home to Monte Carlo, 100 miles south.
“Right now all I’m thinking about is hugging my kids,” he said.
Twenty hours later, Sinner had saved him and a fight with Alcaraz was looming. Djokovic and his death stare were back at the Pala Alpitour, completing a torturous band training session with his coach Marko Panichi.
Family dinners and swimming seemed to be the least on his mind.
As of Saturday evening, neither Alcaraz nor Djokovic had managed two consecutive wins against the other. Their first meeting, in Rome at the 2022 Italian Open, went to Alcaraz in a third-set tiebreak and burned Djokovic down for more than a year. It is believed that players will need several defeats against him before they become accustomed to the uniqueness of the challenge he poses. Alcaraz figured it out in one afternoon.
They missed each other for another 13 months. Learning losses and injuries for Alcaraz. Missed tournaments due to mandatory vaccination for Djokovic.
Then came Djokovic’s TKO in the semifinals of the French Open. Alcaraz, then world No. 1, succumbed to stress-induced full-body cramps in his first moment of truth against a great on a huge stage.
“Part of the learning curve,” Djokovic said. “It’s part of the experience. He’s only 20.”
Alcaraz promised that something like that would never happen again and spent the next month doing relaxation exercises and talking about his fears with his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, who tried to get him to see these moments as opportunities to express his greatness to show. After falling two sets down, Alcaraz turned a few points from Djokovic’s mistakes into a lifeline, then pulled off the same trick in the deciding set two hours later, losing Djokovic his eighth Wimbledon title.
Carlito’s advantage – for five weeks until Djokovic secured a draw on a sweaty night in Cincinnati, a four-hour battle that Jim Courier, the former world No. 1 and later tennis commentator, called the best three-set match he ever had has seen.
Alcaraz had no answers in Turin (Stefano Guidi/Getty Images)
Saturday evening in Turin was far from that.
Djokovic ended Alcaraz’s season with a clinical knock that Alcaraz said would be more important than any of the off-season clashes. There were a handful of points in the second set as Alcaraz fought for his life, running from corner to corner and then unleashing his rocket-like forehands as he tried to secure a lead, only to have Djokovic hunt down so many times that he repelled them He stole his hope, puffed out his chest and posed to the roar of the crowd. That’s how it is (almost) always.
For Alcaraz there is always next year. In a sport-defining rivalry like this, that’s all anyone wants.
(Top photo: Stefano Guidi/Getty Images)