Alcaraz Dethrones Djokovic to Win Wimbledon Title

With seven-time champion Novak Djokovic taking on 20-year-old phenom Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday’s Wimbledon final, we all expected a classic.

And the two players absolutely delivered.

Over the course of five sets and nearly five hours, Alcaraz and Djokovic put on a tennis masterclass, and in the end, it was the young Spaniard Alcaraz who walked away victorious, claiming his second career major title with a 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 win.

“It’s a dream come true for me. As I said before, of course it’s great to win, but even if I had lost, I would be really proud of myself with this amazing run,” said Alcaraz. “Making history in this beautiful tournament, playing a final against a legend of our sport. It’s a dream come true to be able to play on these stages. It’s amazing for a boy, 20-years-old, to reach this kind of situation really fast. I’m really, really proud of myself and the team that I have, the work we put in every day, to be able to lift this.”

Alcaraz came out a bit slow, and Djokovic took full advantage early. After setting up but failing to capitalize on break points on Djokovic’s serve in the first game of the match, Alcaraz saw his serve broken. After being broken again, Alcaraz quickly found himself down 0-5 and lost the opening set.

But he responded in the second set with much crisper service games, and began to find his footing in the match. The two players traded breaks of serve and sent the set into a tiebreaker, which seemed to favor Djokovic who won 14 consecutive major tiebreaks. Alcaraz ended that streak thanks to a blistering backhand winner on his first set point.

Alcaraz broke early in the third set to build a 3-1 lead which set up one of the most amazing games in recent tennis history was played. With Djokovic serving, the game would last 27 minutes and feature 13 deuces, before Alcaraz secured the break and establish a commanding lead in the third set.

Djokovic took a six-minute bathroom break in between sets three and four and got himself ready to launch a comeback. He would not hand Alcaraz the title, the 20-year-old would have to rip it away from him. Djokovic would play better in the fourth set and secure both of the set’s break of serves to send the Wimbledon final to a deciding fifth set.

With the title hanging in the balance, both players fought to hold in their opening service games of the fifth set, but it was Alcaraz who secured the crucial break in the decider. Afterwards, Djokovic slammed his racquet into the net post and had to shake off his wrist for sometime afterwards. It would make no difference, however, as Alcaraz dialed up his service games to make sure he did not keep the door open for Djokovic.

At 5-4, Alcaraz stepped up to the service line and served out the set, the match and the Wimbledon championship.

“Amazing, what quality at the end of the match. When you had to serve it out, you came up with some big serves and big plays so you deserve it, absolutely. Congratulations,” said Djokovic. “I thought I would have trouble with you only on clay and maybe on hard courts but not on grass. But it’s a different story on grass from this year, obviously. Amazing way to adapt to the surface. You played twice before this year’s Wimbledon on grass and it’s amazing what you did.”

Just last month, Alcaraz cramped up in the middle of his match against Djokovic at the French Open. But this time around, Alcaraz would not let that happen again, and made sure he did what he needed to do in order to go the distance with the sport’s career leader in majors.

“I am a totally different player than [I was at the] French Open. I grew up a lot since that moment,” he said. “I took lesson[s] from that match. I did something different before that match. I prepared a little bit different, mentally. I could deal with the pressure, the nerves, better than I did [at the] French Open…Beating Novak at his best, in this stage, making history, being the guy to beat him after 10 years unbeaten on that court, is amazing for me. It’s something that I will never forget, that’s for sure. As I said, it’s great for the new generation, as well, I think to see me beating him and making them think that they are capable to do it, as well. It’s great for me and I think for the young players, as well.”