(July 14, 2024) Carlos Alcaraz defended his Wimbledon title for his fourth major title on Sunday when he beat seven-time Wimbledon champion and 24-time major title holder Novak Djokovic of Serbia 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (4). The Spanish Alcaraz now has two Wimbledon championships, one French Open and one US Open crown, By winning the French Open and Wimbledon crowns back-to-back, he’s completed the “European” double. The 21-year-old Alcaraz is now 4-0 in major title finals. He is just the second man in the Open Era to do this after Roger Federer.
The 37-year-old Djokovic is coming off right knee surgery which took place on June 5. He tore his meniscus at the French Open.
The match was straight forward for Alcaraz until he was serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set. Djokovic saved three match points before he broke serve to level the set at 5-5. Both men held serve to get to a tiebreak which Alcaraz won to close out the two-hour and 27-minute match.
“It was 40/0 but I was seeing [the trophy] so far away,” said Alcaraz. “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.”
“The level of tennis wasn’t up to par from my side,” Djokovic said after the match.
“It is a dream for me, winning this trophy,” said Alcaraz at the trophy ceremony. “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. 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.”
“I think fighting, believing,” Alcaraz said of winning the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back.
Only Rod Laver, Roger Federer, Bjorn Borg and Djokovic have achieved this feat.
“It is a huge honor for me to be part of those players who have achieved Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year. They are huge champions. I don’t consider myself as a champion yet, not like them, but I will keep going to build my path, my journey. It is a huge honor for me.”
“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,” said Djokovic at the trophy presentation. “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.”
By winning Wimbledon, Alcaraz is just 250 ranking points behind No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy.
More to follow….
