Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz won the 2nd Wimbledon title of his short career after defeating Serbian Novak Djokovic in the final on Sunday, in a kind of generational change, by 6-2, 6-2 and 7-6 (7/4).
Djokovic, 37, who was not able to raise the record of Grand Slam tournaments won by the Serbian to 25, seems to pass the baton with this symbolic loss to Alcaraz, who already beat him in the Wimbledon final last year.
Djokovic was thus unable to take retaliation for the defeat he suffered 1 year ago on the same stage, in a match that was more contested on that occasion, reaching five sets.
Alcaraz received the trophy from Princess Catherine of Wales, who attended the final, in her second public appearance since being diagnosed with cancer in March, the details of which are unknown.
Carlos Alcaraz claimed his 4th Grand Slam title, having previously won at the 2022 US Open, 2023 Wimbledon and 2024 Roland Garros.
Dominance From the Start
The Spaniard set out on the path to victory from the start, breaking his opponent’s serve in a hard-fought first game of the match that lasted fourteen minutes. It was a warning that the match would not have much of a story.
Alcaraz broke his opponent’s serve again in the fifth game of the first set after a double fault by Djokovic.
All seemed to go wrong for the Serbian at the start of the match and Alcaraz easily won the set 6-2.
The power of his serve allowed Alcaraz to win 87% of the points on his first serve compared to 55% for Djokovic in that initial set.
The second set started like the previous one with Alcaraz breaking his opponent’s serve in the first game.
The Spaniard seemed to be heading for a victory that could not escape him and broke Djokovic’s serve again in the seventh game, also after a double fault from a mistake by Djokovic.
After repeating a 6-2 lead in the second set, the third set was more contested and Alcaraz was unable to break Djokovic’s serve until the 9th game (5-4).
Alcaraz Equals Nadal
Alcaraz delayed winning that set and the match. After having 3 match points in the next game, he dropped five points in a row to lose his serve for the first time (5-5).
The Serbian received a morale boost, but the suspense only lasted until the tiebreak, which the Spaniard would end up winning, 7-6 (7/4).
Alcaraz is the 6th player to achieve the Roland Garros-Wimbledon double in the same year.
Victory at Wimbledon helped Alcaraz to equal the number of wins at the London tournament held by his compatriot Rafael Nadal, winner of the trophy in 2008 and 2010.
Alcaraz becomes the fourth player in the Open era to win four Grand Slam titles at the age of 21 or younger, joining Swedes Bjorn Borg and Mats Wilander and Germany’s Boris Becker.
The loss prevented Novak Djokovic from getting any closer to the figure of 100 ATP tournaments won, as he now has 98 and above all equaling Federer’s 8 victories on the London grass.
Novak Djokovic suffered an injury to his right knee during his participation in Roland Garros, which he underwent surgery about 5 weeks ago, arrived at Wimbledon physically diminished, but that didn’t prevent him from reaching the final of the tournament, and he ended up losing to Alcaraz.
