During the very short amount of time he has spent at the top of his sport, Carlos Alcaraz has already enjoyed a career with few comparisons. Alcaraz is winning big titles at a rate that few 21-year-olds ever have yet it still seems like he has barely scratched at the surface of his talents. Every win brings him closer to the possibility that he will soon be the dominant force in his sport.
He took another leap forward in his blossoming career by producing an incredible performance under pressure and holding off his late nerves to defeat the seven-time champion Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (4) and triumph at Wimbledon for a second time in a row. Alcaraz has now won four major titles and counting and he joins Roger Federer as the only men to win their first four grand slam finals.
With this monumental victory, Alcaraz also joins a rare group of six players who have won at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year, nowadays sometimes known as the “Channel Slam”. This is also Alcaraz’s first ever grand slam title defence and it marks the first time he has won multiple grand slam titles in the same year.
After tearing his meniscus during the French Open and quickly undergoing surgery, Djokovic’s run to the final alone was incredibly impressive in itself. But the 37-year-old had also reached the final without facing a single top 10 opponent – the ninth seed Alex de Minaur withdrew before their quarter-final match – meaning he had not been tested by one of the elite.
More importantly, nothing in Djokovic’s path to the final prepared him for the excellence of Alcaraz. A year ago, the Spaniard demonstrated his mental strength and nerve in a delirious five-set comeback victory over Djokovic to win his first Wimbledon title in an instant classic. The start of the sequel suggested that another long afternoon could be on the cards as Alcaraz wrestled a mammoth 13-minute opening game from Djokovic to immediately break serve.
The winner of the final point of that first game turned out to be far more significant. While Alcaraz settled immediately and constantly looked to take the first strike, Djokovic seemed to be terrified of trading with his opponent from the baseline. He was determined to shorten points by approaching the net as early as possible and throwing in numerous serve and volley attempts. Alcaraz easily picked Djokovic off whenever he tried to approach and by the time the Spaniard led 6-2, 2-0, Djokovic had won just four of his 14 net approaches.
Even as he established an early lead, it took a while for Alcaraz to reach his top level. Every game on the board seemed to free him up a little more as he worked through his arsenal of shots, launching himself into nuclear forehands, closing down the net and keeping Djokovic guessing with a steady helping of drop shots.
While Djokovic’s movement has been solid during the fortnight, he has been cautious about sliding and pushing back off his right knee when forced out wide on his forehand side. Time after time, Alcaraz made Djokovic scramble in his forehand corner and he struck his down-the-line backhand well. As he rolled through to establish a two-set lead, he had made Djokovic’s life so uncomfortable.
Even when he trailed by two sets, Djokovic searched for solutions, served well and he put Alcaraz under considerable pressure. It was not until Alcaraz reached 5-4, 40-0 and triple championship point, though, that he finally balked. After a double fault and a fine forehand return from Djokovic, an excellent serve from Alcaraz set up a forehand drive volley. Just as he was about to strike the ball, a spectator screamed out from the crowd. Alcaraz missed that forehand and two more as he quickly relinquished the game.
To his credit, even when Djokovic followed up the break by holding easily to lead 6-5, Alcaraz did not panic. He held serve, forced a tiebreak and then he played an outrageous drop shot winner at 5-4 as he found the courage to force himself back onto the front foot to close out a brilliant win the hard way.
