Wimbledon, England — After a poor start against Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final, Carlos Alcaraz was left with just one point from a two-set hole.
This kind of inferiority is daunting to anyone. Not only is the 20-year-old going to his second major final, but he’s also against Djokovic, someone who hasn’t lost on Center Court in 10 years, and someone who’s chasing a fifth straight title. , tied for record eighth overall at the All England Club. who won the first two Grand Slam tournaments that year and 23 wins throughout his career.
Ah, but last year’s US Open champion Alcaraz wanted Djokovic, whom he calls “the legend of the sport,” to hit that shot. He said winning Wimbledon would be even more special. And Alcaraz managed to win the tiebreaker with a chorus of “Carlos!” Carlos! From the stands, the older, more experienced and skilled opponents’ two-syllabic nicknames raced, “No-le! No-le!” Shortly afterward, Alcaraz scored 32 points in a spectacular 25-minute match and, crucially, the Spaniard made it through the crucible in the fifth set.
All of this adds up to the No. 1-ranked Alcaraz establishing himself as the star player people expected him to be, turning his odds into a win and snapping Djokovic’s 34-game winning streak at the All England Club to a halt. rice field. In Sunday’s back-and-forth heat, he went downhill, beating him 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. Alcaraz won his first title at Wimbledon and his second overall Grand Slam trophy.
“I never got discouraged, I never gave up,” said Alcaraz, who became the third youngest man to win a grass-court major after Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg during the Open era that began in 1968. “We had a great rally and scored great points. It was a long long game. Long sets. It was the mental part that allowed me to stay there.”
He is the first player outside the elite quartet of Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray to win Wimbledon since 2002, and for many it represents a transfer of power in men’s tennis. Met.
“I’ve never played with a player like him. Never before,” Djokovic said. Those are really good words from a man who has competed with Federer and Nadal for a long time and in many notable matches.
“He’s proven to be the best player in the world, no doubt,” Djokovic said.
The age gap between Alcaraz and the 36-year-old Djokovic, who wiped away tears at the trophy ceremony, was the widest in a men’s final since 1974.
So, Alcaraz has youth on his side, and certainly did when they faced each other in the French Open semifinals last month. Two sets were insane until Alcaraz cramped and weakened. This time he had the stamina, the strokes to overtake Djokovic and the belief that he could win.
Things started to change on Sunday after Alcaraz made nine unforced errors in the first set and Djokovic’s two showed signs of tension in Paris. At 4-all in the second set, Djokovic slid on a worn patch behind the baseline under the royal box and threw his racket off as he fell. At the next changeover, Djokovic bent one leg over the other and slammed his left heel into the net for more stretch.
Djokovic was in the tiebreaker, having won all six set-end games he faced at Wimbledon leading up to the final, and had won 15 straight Grand Slams.
Undaunted by a warning from referee Fergus Murphy for taking too long on his serve, Djokovic led 6-5. set point.
But Djokovic’s two backhands put Alcaraz within points for the set.
“I was a little disappointed with the backhand,” Djokovic later said.
Alcaraz then hit a backhand pass winner from the return of a 118 mph serve while maintaining a follow-through pose. As the crowd stood up and cheered, Alcaraz twirled with his right hand in his ear, savoring the moment.
“Had I dropped that set, I probably wouldn’t have lifted the trophy,” Alcaraz said. “I could have probably lost in three sets.”
It was 2 sets of 2 hours.
1 set each.
Now it’s a game.
It started to feel memorable.
The fifth game of the third set might have been worth the high admission price on its own. Neither man wanted to give in. Neither wanted to give up anything. Sure, it was his one game, but it seemed like it mattered.
When Djokovic was broken by slamming a forehand into the net (one of his five service drops in the match was more than his previous six combined), Alcaraz put his head back. celebrated his 4-1 dominance in the set. Vamos! ”
But Djokovic didn’t go away. He leveled up again, pushing the hard-fought battle into the fifth set.
One of several reasons Djokovic’s chances were favored in this phase is that he entered Sunday 10-1 in five sets at Wimbledon and 35-9 in all majors. is.
But those games were in the past.
Alcaraz is the future.
His serve exceeds 130 mph. His forehand sledgehammer goes over 100 miles an hour and is fired in such a way that the viewer believes that all the power, every fiber of his being is put into each swing. The sound of hitting a racket and the sound of his “Uh, eh!” A sigh of power echoed throughout the arena along with gasps from the moved onlookers.
He makes the game as varied as possible, from his volleying prowess to his well-masked drop shots that helped him get back on the hook again in the second and third sets.
Djokovic, on the other hand, has a wealth of talent and a very good muscle memory. Often he would hustle, stretch and slide near the split to recoup Alcaraz’s clearly point-ending shot in a way no one else could.
Plus, he was there and did it in a way Alcaraz can only dream of so far.
But if this win on a windy and overcast day is any indication, Alcaraz is about to do quite a bit for himself.
He went full forward on the break and led 2-1 with a backhand pass winner in the fifth. Djokovic fell during the point but quickly got back up, slammed his racket into the net post and let go on impact. He destroys his equipment and is sentenced to breaking the rules by Murphy.
Djokovic called it “frustration at the moment”.
They would play another 24 minutes, but Alcaraz never relented and never gave in, regardless of the skill and will of the man over the net. And after the final point, it was Alcaraz, not Djokovic, who covered his face and rolled on the grass to receive the gold trophy.
“It’s something you’ll never forget,” Alcaraz said. “That’s for sure.”
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AP Tennis: and