A new dawn in male Tennis championship occured on Sunday night, July 16 as Carlos Alcaraz ended Novak Djokovic’s long reign at Wimbledon with a stunning 1-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 3-6 6-4 victory to win the All England Club title for the first time on Sunday
The 20 year old Spaniard looked to be on his way to victory when he recovered from a nervous start to take a two-sets-to-one lead, only for Djokovic to show amazing resilience and fight back up.
At the start of the fifth set, Djokovic was going up until Alcaraz fought to claim victory after four hours and 42 minutes, finally landing a meaningful blow for his mentor 16 years his senior.
After Djokovic’s final forehand dropped into the net, Alcaraz slumped to the court elated at his new status as the king of male Tennis.
Alcaraz, who has added Wimbledon to his US Open title, said: “Well it’s a dream come true for me. It’s great to win but even if I had lost I would have been really proud of myself, playing a final against a legend of our sport.
“After the first set I thought ‘hmmm… Carlos increase the level’. I have to congratulate Novak. I started playing tennis watching you. When I was born you were already winning tournaments. But 36 is the new 26. It’s amazing.”
Carlos Alcaraz is the first player to defeat three top-10 opponents en route to secure the men’s singles title at the Championships since Pete Sampras in 1994 (Michael Chang, Todd Martin and Goran Ivanisevic).
Alcaraz is the second to defeat Djokovic in a five-sets Grand Slam final after Andy Murray at the US Open 2012.
Alcaraz is the first player to defeat Novak Djokovic in Wimbledon since Tomas Berdych in quarter-finals 2017, 2195 days ago by retirement.
Lleyton Hewitt in 2002, 21 years ago, was the last man to win the Wimbledon singles who was not from the quartet of Dvokovic, Federer, Murray or Nadal.
Djokovic, beaten on Centre Court for the first time in 10 years, said to the crowd: “Good afternoon. Not so good for me but good for Carlos.
“I have to praise Carlos and his team. Quality at the end of the match, you served it out and you deserved it. I thought I’d only have trouble with you on clay or hard court, not on grass. Amazing, what you did in Queen’s and here.
“As for me you never like to lose matches like this but when all the emotions have settled I still have to be very grateful. I’ve won many close matches here down the years, maybe I should have lost a couple of finals that I won so it’s ‘even stevens’.
“It’s a tough one to swallow when you are so close. I lost to the better player and I have to congratulate him and move on.”
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