Thrilling five set win earns 20-year-old Spaniard his second Grand Slam title
Stop all the clocks. Entire lifetimes have passed since Novak Djokovic last lost on Centre Court at Wimbledon.
Just ask young Prince George, sitting alongside his parents in the Royal Box to see the hugely anticipated showdown between the seven-time champion and Carlos Alcaraz.
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The young prince celebrates his 10th birthday next Saturday, and in 45 matches played by the Serb on Centre Court since the day George was born, not once had Djokovic been defeated.
Mind you, had that fifth game of the third set gone on much longer than the 13 deuces and 26 minutes it comprised, young George would have been blowing out the candles on his cake while his fellow Royal Boxers joined in a rousing chorus of ‘happy birthday’.
Alcaraz was sporting a heavy beard by the end of that game, having started it clean shaven; so much had happened by the time he finally sealed the winning point, yet so much more was yet to unfold.
At 36, Djokovic had arrived at The Championships 2023 apparently in possession of eternal youth.
On the occasion of his first ever joust with Alcaraz in SW19, the ageless one assumed his customary lotus position on the sacred lawn and could not have been more Zen in the opening set, brilliantly neutralising the pretender’s forehand.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC
In the build-up to this meeting, Alcaraz had specified his need to enjoy the first set if he was to avoid a repeat of his defeat by Djokovic in the semi-finals at Roland-Garros last month.
But unless the Spaniard has frankly peculiar ideas on what constitutes a good time, it is difficult to imagine he revelled in the challenge that was unfolding.
Did he know that even then, statistics apparently proved him defeated? Not once in the 18 Championships he has contested at Wimbledon had Djokovic previously lost a match after winning the first set. He had not lost to a world No.1 in almost seven years, nor to a world No.1 at a Grand Slam since 2014.
Alcaraz hung on in an epic second set, only to face another tonne of freakish Djokovic statistics on arrival in the tie-break.
The Serb was 14-0 in 2023 Grand Slam breakers played, and in the six he contested at Roland-Garros just weeks ago he did not make a single mistake.
But as the 19th century Scottish poet Andrew Lang said, statistics can be used like a drunk man uses a lamppost: more for support than illumination.
Djokovic leaked three – three! – errors as Alcaraz turned him over, and then surfed the momentum all the way to taking the third set.
Still, not for nothing had Djokovic warned those who would take his crown: “It ain’t happening.”
CARLOS ALCARAZ
His visceral need for an eighth Wimbledon title and a 24th Grand Slam win lifted him off the canvas, and he took it into the deciding set.
Yet here is the truth about sport: no matter how great a champion you are, there are times when it’s just someone else’s story. So it was in the men’s final at Wimbledon 2023. At nine minutes to seven on the evening of 16 July, the day belonged to Alcaraz.
Djokovic may yet win an eighth Wimbledon title but it will not be this year. From the ashes of that devastating first set, the Spaniard lit the fuse all the way to a historic victory. The boy king had become a man.
The Championships 2024 will take place from July 1 – 14 2024 and the Wimbledon Public Ballot will open in mid-September. Make sure you’re one of the first to hear about tickets for next year’s Championships by signing up to myWimbledon.
Source: Wimbledon
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