Alcaraz Dominates Djokovic For 2nd Wimbledon Title, 4th Grand Slam
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Too much speed, too much power. Carlos Alcaraz proved too tough for Novak Djokovic today in the Wimbledon final sweeping past the legend 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4) to capture his second straight Wimbledon title and fourth Grand Slam title.
“It is a dream for me, winning this trophy. In an interview when I was 11 or 12 years old I said my dream was to win Wimbledon, so I am repaying my dream,” Alcaraz said. “I want to keep going but it is a great feeling to play in this beautiful court and to lift this amazing trophy. This is the most beautiful tournament, most beautiful court and most beautiful trophy.”
Just 21, Alcaraz becomes the youngest man in the Open Era to complete the “Channel Slam” — winning both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year.
Alcaraz improves his perfect record in Slam finals to 4-0 after his first straight-set win at this stage in a Slam. He already has more titles than Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka!
Djokovic was seeking an all-time record 25th career Grand Slam title, but fell far short. A year ago he pushed the youngster to five and have chances to win. This year, he was overmatched from the start.
“He had it all today,” Djokovic said. “He was an absolutely deserved winner today.
“He was the better player from the beginning till the end.”
Djokovic came into the Wimbledon championships a serious question mark after undergoing surgery on his right knee on June 5. But Djokovic showed up at Wimbledon three weeks ago and actually played quite well after a shaky first week. But today, Alcaraz had his way with the slower, older and less powerful Serb.
Alcaraz was nearly untouched on serve, banging serves to set up his forehand and gliding around the court, chasing down Djokovic’s shots.
“Obviously it is not the result that I wanted and especially in the first couple of sets, the level of tennis wasn’t up to par, really, from my side,” Djokovic said on court. “But credit to Carlos for playing some complete tennis. From the back of the court, on serve, he had it all today. I tried to push him and saved the three match points, extended the match a little bit, but it wasn’t meant to be really. He was an absolutely deserved winner today, so congratulations to him for amazing tennis.”
Djokovic had a tough opening game which saw him getting broken immediately, and that set the tone.
“The first game was incredible,” Alcaraz said. “One of the longest first games I’ve ever played.
“That set the tone. I think he was coming out from the blocks ready to battle and ready to play his best level right away, which wasn’t the case last year where I started better, had a comfortable first-set win.”
Alcaraz had a blip serving for the match at 5-4, 40-0 but swatted away the tension and the nerves winning in a breaker.
“It was 40-0 but I was seeing so far away,” said Alcaraz of that moment the trophy was there. “Djokovic is an unbelievable fighter and I knew he was going to have his chances again, so I had to stay there. I tried to win the point with the serve, but I couldn’t.
“It was difficult for me. I tried to stay calm, I tried to stay positive at that situation, going into the tie-break, and I tried to play my best tennis. That’s all I was thinking about. I’m really glad that at the end I could find the solution and I’m happy to be in this situation.”
Alcaraz won’t move in the rankings as he defends his 2023 winner points, but with three Slam wins in the last five, it’s clear that even though Jannik Sinner remains No. 1, he’s the man to beat.
Djokovic and Alcaraz will both turn their attention on the Paris Olympics and then the 37-year-old will look to the US Open and the Australian Open for perhaps a final realistic shot at becoming the first tennis player to get to 25.
“The Olympic Games and US Open are the two big goals for the rest of the year for me really,” Djokovic said. “I’m hoping I can be at my best on those two tournaments.
“Being able to reach the finals of Wimbledon, of course, it’s a great confidence boost. But I also feel like in a matchup today against best player right now in the world for sure, I mean, other than Jannik, and both of them are the best this year by far, I feel like I’m not at that level.
“In order to really have a chance to I guess beat these guys in Grand Slam latter stages or Olympics, I’m going to have to play much better than I did today and feel much better than I did today. I’m going to work on it. It’s not something I haven’t experienced before ever in my life. I’ve had so many different experiences throughout my career. In the face of adversity, normally I rise and I learn and get stronger.”
Meanwhile, Alcaraz will seek a third straight major win in New York and if can get a foothold over Sinner, many more records will fall.
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