No. 1 seed Carlos Alcaraz snapped Novak Djokovic’s run of four straight singles titles at Wimbledon, besting Djokovic to win his first Wimbledon 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in an epic final that approached five hours on Sunday in London.
The final at the All England Club was just Alcaraz’s fourth time playing a tournament on grass.
Djokovic, seeded second, cruised through the first set, seeking to win his eighth Wimbledon and extend his record of most Grand Slam wins by a man to 24. But the 20-year-old Alcaraz appeared to lose some of his opening-set jitters in the second, even with King Felipe VI of Spain in the Royal Box to watch the coronation of his country’s next great tennis player.
“I played in front of you twice,” Alcaraz said, addressing his remarks to the king post-match. “Twice that I won. I hope you are coming (to) more.”
Alcaraz dug out of a hole in the second-set tiebreak, down three points to start, to win the 90-minute set and shift the momentum his way. He seemed to take firm control of the match when he broke Djokovic’s serve in a 27-minute game to take a 4-1 lead in the third set by winning the seventh break point.
But the 36-year-old Djokovic, of Serbia, wasn’t about to abdicate his throne without a fight, breaking the Spaniard’s serve twice in the fourth set to force a fifth, and deciding, set.
Djokovic lost his composure following Alcaraz’s service break in the third game of the fifth set. Down 2-1, Djokovic smashed his racket on the wood holding up the net and never had a break opportunity the rest of the match.
In all, Alcaraz posted 66 winners and 45 unforced errors, compared to 32 and 40, respectively, for Djokovic in the four-hour, 42-minute drama-filled match.
Alcaraz won his second Grand Slam, following his victory at the U.S. Open in 2022.
Djokovic, a winner at the Australian and French opens earlier this year, was looking to continue his quest for a calendar Grand Slam and tie Roger Federer for the most championships by a man at Wimbledon. Instead, he lost at Wimbledon for the first time since the 2017 quarterfinals.
Since Lleyton Hewitt won in London in 2002, no one other than Djokovic, Federer, Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray had won Wimbledon until Alcaraz.
Alcaraz won his first grass-court tournament at the Queen’s Club Championship on June 25.
“I thought that I will have trouble with you only on clay and maybe hardcourts but not on grass but now it’s a different story,” Djokovic said after the match.
Even Alcaraz marveled at the speed with which he has taken to the unfamiliar surface.
“I fall in love with grass right now,” the new champion said. “It’s amazing. I did not expect to play at this level in a really short period.”
“It’s a dream come true,” he continued. “I’m really, really happy with the work that we are doing coming into the grass season.I learned really, really fast and I’m really, really proud.”
–Field Level Media
