On Sunday at Wimbledon, in the sunshine on Centre Court, Carlos Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4) in a one-sided final.
The Spaniard is now 4-0 in Grand Slam finals. He also won the US Open in 2022, Wimbledon last year, and Roland-Garros last month.
Alcaraz is just the second man in the Open Era to win his first four major finals in a row, after Roger Federer.
From the beginning, Alcaraz made Djokovic, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, uncomfortable and never let him back in. The Spaniard broke the Serbian in the first game, which was 14 minutes, and that set the tone of the match.
“Yeah, the first game was incredible,” Djokovic said. “One of the longest first games I’ve ever played.
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
“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.
“Today, from the first point, he was there, he was ready.”
By the time the Serbian wanted to get going, it was almost the end of the match.
“I tried to fight my way in the third and come back,” Djokovic said, “saving three match points, extending really the match a little bit. But I guess it was inevitable for him to win today because he was just coming out on the court with a better quality tennis. It’s as simple as it is.
“Just overall the way I felt on the court today against him, I was inferior on the court. That’s it. He was a better player. He played every single shot better than I did.
“I don’t think I could have done something much more. Try to pump myself up maybe, yes. Get the crowd involved. That’s what was happening in the third. That got me going a little bit.
“Yeah, he wasn’t also allowing me to have much of a free points on my serve. He was reading the serve. He was playing with a lot of variety.
I’ve never seen him serve that way, to be honest. 136. Maybe I was missing something this tournament, but I’ve never seen him serve that fast. He must have had a really good serving practice day yesterday (smiling).
“Yes, overall he really outplayed me.”
Alcaraz said it was an amazing feeling to win Wimbledon back-to-back. “Yeah, I mean, it is great. I’m really proud and really happy about it.”
“Obviously it was a great match for me. Obviously, Novak didn’t play his best the first two sets, a lot of mistakes. I made the most of that.
“Yeah, it is a great feeling even thinking about being French Open winner and Wimbledon champion the same year, that few players just done it before. It’s unbelievable.
“I try to realize that I won Wimbledon twice and try to feel that it was the same feeling as last year.”
At 21 years and 70 days, Alcaraz is the youngest player of the Open Era to achieve the Roland-Garros/Wimbledon double in the same year.
“Well, obviously I’ve seen and I’ve heard all the stats that I am the youngest to win at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon the same year, to win whatever.
“I honestly try not to think about it too much. Obviously, it’s a really great start of my career, but I have to keep going. I have to keep building my path.
“At the end of my career, I want to sit at the same table as the big guys. That’s my main goal. That’s my dream right now. It doesn’t matter if I already won four Grand Slams at the age of 21. If I’m not keep going, all these tournaments for me, it doesn’t matter.
“I really want to keep going. I will try to keep winning and end my career with a lot of them.”
