Novak Djokovic can’t stop younger, more powerful Carlos Alcaraz in Wimbledon final

WIMBLEDON, England – On the doorstep of Sunday’s final, the man with the most Grand Slam singles titles of all time spoke about the magic of Wimbledon.

Novak Djokovic had come here in past years feeling out of sorts, searching for answers, injured, downtrodden and disappointed. Living his childhood dream and playing at the All England Club had often been a salve to his variety of ailments, inexplicably bringing out his best tennis, as he put it earlier this week, and rewarding him with glory and peace.

Djokovic arrived here weeks ago in a questionable state, not far removed from a June 5 surgery to repair the torn meniscus in his knee, and otherwise dealing with what he called the weakest start to a season he’s had in years.

But Wimbledon had no magic left for him Sunday. It was all absorbed by the young wizard who stood across the net in the men’s championship match for the second year in a row.

Carlos Alcaraz won his second straight Wimbledon championship and fourth Grand Slam title with the typical sparks flying from his racket. He produced a highly atypical score line for a battle against Djokovic, prevailing over his off-kilter opponent, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), and handing the Serb the second-worst defeat of his career in a Grand Slam final.

Djokovic made no excuses in a post-match news conference.

“Just overall the way I felt on the court today against him, I was inferior on the court,” he said. “That’s it. He was a better player. He played every single shot better than I did.”

The only more lopsided result in Djokovic’s 13 losses in major finals was at the 2020 French Open, where he fell to Rafael Nadal 6-0, 6-2, 7-5.

Alcaraz denied his cross-generational rival the ability to make history for the second straight year. The 37-year-old from Serbia was trying to equal Roger Federer’s record eight Wimbledon men’s singles titles and win his 25th Grand Slam title overall, the trophy that would give him the record for most Grand Slam singles titles of all time, ahead of Margaret Court.

But the 21-year-old was also looking to write new lines in the record books as he continues to cement himself as one of the greatest young men’s champions in tennis history, with the 2022 U.S. Open, 2023 Wimbledon and last month’s French Open title already on his resume. He joined Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg as the only players in the Open era, which began in 1968, to win multiple Wimbledon men’s singles titles before age 22, and equaled Becker, Borg and Mats Wilander for the Open era-record of the most Grand Slam singles titles won before that age.

There’s more: Alcaraz is also the second player in the Open era to win his first four Grand slam finals, following Roger Federer (who won his first seven). He is the sixth man in the Open era to pull off the difficult, condensed transition from clay to grass-court tennis and win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year.

But perhaps most importantly on the day the Spanish men’s national football team faces England in the European Championships, Alcaraz is just the second Spanish man after Rafael Nadal to hoist multiple Wimbledon titles.

“I’ve already done my job,” Alcaraz said, “so let’s see in the football.”

Centre Court was already teeming by the time Djokovic and Alcaraz arrived shortly before the players walked on the court. The crowd rose to greet Catherine, Princess of Wales, with a heartfelt standing ovation – Sunday was her second public appearance since the announcement in March of her cancer diagnosis. The All England Club’s royal patron since 2016, she followed her sister Pippa and daughter Charlotte to her front-row seat in the Royal Box, giving the crowd a few small waves of acknowledgment before taking her seat.

Celebrities including Tom Cruise and Benedict Cumberbatch sat nearby, as did tennis royalty Andre Agassi, Stefan Edberg, Chris Evert, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall and Stan Smith.

They’d all come to see history be made, in one way or another. Instead, they watched what seemed at times to be an impostor in Djokovic’s place.

He had entered Wimbledon both facing questions about the health of his knee and with a paltry 18-6 record this year, having not yet reached the final of a tournament in that stretch. But he had dispelled worry about his play with five characteristically straightforward wins here amid positive reports about his physical state.

Yet on Sunday, he suddenly looked several steps slow against a competitor 16 years his junior.

“I’ve never seen him serve that way, to be honest,” Djokovic said of Alcaraz. The Spaniard was remarkable in that department, hitting his fastest serve at 136 mph and winning 84 percent of points on his first serve. He was on point, too, when returning.

The opening game seemed to promise another marathon like the final last year, where Djokovic and Alcaraz battled for 4 hours, 42 minutes. It contained seven deuces, 20 points and went on nearly 14 minutes, feeling like both players were yearning to make an opening statement.

Alcaraz won it with a lightning-quick return on a 125-mph serve to break Djokovic, snatching control of the match that he never let slip from his grasp and enlivening a keyed-up crowd that never calmed down.

“I think he was coming out from the blocks ready to battle and ready to play his best level right away,” Djokovic said, “which wasn’t the case last year where I started better, had a comfortable first-set win.”

The match stuck to script after that opener in a way that was nearly uninteresting, if not for the unusual ways in which Djokovic faltered. He served a double fault on break point to give Alcaraz a 5-1 lead in the first set and at times gave up on running down Alcaraz’s signature drop shots. Alcaraz was like a puppeteer, moving Djokovic around court with masterful tennis. But Djokovic also at times looked despondent, shrugging his shoulders at a shot he couldn’t reach or shaking his head and laughing.

Most telling were Djokovic’s mistakes when he moved forward. He’d entered Sunday’s final having won 78 percent of the points he’d contested at net over five matches (Alex de Minaur afforded Djokovic a walkover when he withdrew from the tournament with an injury ahead of their quarterfinal bout).

On Sunday, he could hardly put away a volley, clipping the net as many times as he sent a short ball careening wide. He won just 51 percent of points at net.

The only real drama of the day came when Alcaraz had three match points at 5-4 in the third set. He flubbed them all, first serving a double fault then handing Djokovic a break for the first time all match.

He finally did it in the tiebreaker, proving his generational versatility once again – the same way he did with his French Open win last month, when he became the first male player to win his first three Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces.

Show up at your best, as Djokovic did in 2023, and Alcaraz will beat you. Show up out of whack, as Djokovic did Sunday, and Alcaraz will not wobble. The young man just wants to win.