Wimbledon: Alcaraz beats Djokovic for first championship title

WIMBLEDON, England –

Carlos Alcaraz said he wanted another shot at Novak Djokovic. Said it would make winning a Wimbledon championship more special. Well, Alcaraz got his chance to play against Djokovic. And he hit him.

Putting aside a bad start, Alcaraz raced down to end Djokovic’s 34-match winning streak at the All England Club by beating him 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-1, 3-6, 6- 4 in an enthralling, back-and-forth final on Sunday, claiming his first Wimbledon title and second Grand Slam trophy.

No. 1 Alcaraz prevented No. 2 Djokovic for what would have been a record-tying eighth title, and fifth in a row, on the grass tournament. Djokovic was also held back from earning a 24th career major.

“To play a final against a legend of our sport – for me it is incredible,” said Alcaraz, who was competing in his fourth career event on grass.

“I have to congratulate Novak. It’s great to play against him. What can I say about him? It’s incredible. You inspire me a lot. I started playing tennis watching you,” said Alcaraz, then joked: “I I mean, since I was born, you’ve been winning tournaments.”

That’s not exactly accurate. But instead of Djokovic, a 36-year-old from Serbia, who became the oldest male champion at Wimbledon in the Open era, Alcaraz, a 20-year-old from Spain, became the third youngest. The age difference between the two was the largest in all men’s Slam finals since 1974.

So Alcaraz had the youth on his side, which of course he did when they met at the French Open last month. It was extraordinary for two sets before Alcaraz cramped and faded. This time he had the stamina and the strokes to pass Djokovic.

“You never like to lose games like this. I think when all the emotions have settled, I should still be very grateful, because I have won a lot of exciting and exciting games here in the past,” said Djokovic, whose last loss was at Wimbledon in 2017.

“I lost to a better player,” said Djokovic, pausing to wipe away tears, “so I have to congratulate him.”

Alcaraz is faster and capable of more power – serves up to 210 mph, forehands up to 100 mph – but Djokovic is equipped with a plethora of talents and so much muscle memory. He’s been there and done it, in ways Alcaraz can only dream of for now.

But if this victory on a windy and cloudy day at Center Court, where Djokovic last lost in the 2013 final, was any indication, Alcaraz is well on his way to achieving quite a bit himself.

Still, this is all relatively new to him: Djokovic’s record 35th Grand Slam final was Alcaraz’s second.

Still, it was Alcaraz who won a mini-masterpiece of 32 points and 25 minutes en route to the third set. It was Alcaraz who was not intimidated when Djokovic forced it to a fifth set.

And it was Alcaraz who moved forward for good by breaking to go 2-1 in the fifth with a backhand that passed the winner. Djokovic, who fell during the point but quickly resurfaced, responded by hitting his racquet against the net post and releasing it on impact. He destroyed his equipment and earned a code violation from chair umpire Fergus Murphy.

They would play for another 24 minutes, bringing the total to over 4.5 hours, but Alcaraz never gave in, never gave in. And it was Alcaraz, not Djokovic, who covered his face and rolled in the grass after the final point, collecting the gold trophy.

“What a quality at the end of the match,” Djokovic told Alcaraz at the post-match ceremony. “You deserve it, absolutely.”

Alcaraz possesses a forehand sledgehammer, one that he unleashes in such a way that an observer believes every ounce of strength, even every fiber of his being, is invested in every swing. The clap of the racket and his “Uhhh-ehhh!” exhalations of effort – along with the sighs of awed spectators – reverberated through the arena on Sunday.

Of course, that’s not to say that Alcaraz’s attributes end with that big forehand. He is so much more than that, he plays as varied a game as possible on all fields, which is why stardom is predicted from him. He does everything right, including well-disguised drop shots that helped him get back into the thick of things in the second and third sets.

Djokovic, of course, has already achieved greatness by spending more weeks at No. 1 than any man or woman in the half-century history of the automated rankings and accumulating those 23 Grand Slam triumphs – one more than Rafael Nadal and three more then Roger Federer, the only man with eight Wimbledon titles.

So many times on Sunday that Djokovic rushed and stretched and nearly slipped into the splits to get Alcaraz’s apparent point-ending shots back over the net in a way no one else could.

However, things started to shift at 4-all in the second set. Djokovic slipped on a worn spot behind the baseline below the Royal Box and threw his racket away as he fell. At the next substitution, Djokovic strained one leg by bending it over the other. Before returning to court to resume play, he popped his left heel onto the net to stretch further. Soon his legs were not providing the same cover as before, the power of his forehand was diminished.

They would go to a tiebreaker, Djokovic’s reign: he had won all six such set-enders he played at Wimbledon leading up to the final, and 15 consecutive Grand Slam action, dating back to the Australian Open.

This time Djokovic had a set point while leading 6-5 in the tiebreak, sparking the first chants of the day of his two-syllable nickname from his backers, “No-le! No-le!” But he put a backhand into the net to make it 6-all, and as the players switched sides, a competing chorus of “Car-los! Car-los!” to arise.

Another backhand in the net from Djokovic put Alcaraz within one point of the set. He converted by hitting a backhand passing winner on the return of a 118 mph serve, then held the pose of his follow through. As people in the stands rose to roar, Alcaraz spun around with his right hand to his ear, savoring the moment.

Two hours and two sets in.

One set each.

Now it was a competition.

Now this was starting to get memorable.

The fifth game of the third set might have been worth the hefty price of entry on its own. Neither man wanted to bow. Neither of them wanted to give anything. It was one game, yes, but it felt much more meaningful than that.

When Djokovic hit a forehand into the net to give Alcaraz a break — one of five in the match, more than the three combined that Djokovic’s previous six opponents managed to score in 103 service games in the past two weeks — and leading 4-1 in the set, the Spaniard threw back his head and shouted: “Vamos!”

Djokovic walked to the dressing room with a white bag over his right shoulder. He’s used these kinds of breaks to come to himself and change the momentum, and sure enough, he pushed this great match to a fifth set.

One of many reasons to appreciate Djokovic’s chances at the time: he went into Sunday with a 10-1 record in five-setters at Wimbledon and 35-9 in all majors.

However, those games were in the past.

Alcaraz is the future.

“I learned very, very quickly,” said Alcaraz, who was then given a hug by Spain’s King Felipe VI, “and I’m really, really proud.”