The Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz won the Wimbledon title for the first time in his career. In the final, the 20-year-old Alcaraz beat the 36-year-old Serbian Novak Djokovic in five sets with 1:6, 7:6(6), 6:1, 3:6, 6:4 after 4 hours and 42 minutes of play.
The match on the Central Court was one of the best in the history of the finals of the tournament, and the bet, in addition to the trophy, was the first place in the world rankings. With his victory, Alcaraz ensures that he will remain at the top of the ranking of the best players.
It is also the Spaniard’s second Grand Slam title after the US Open last year, making him unbeaten in title matches.
At the same time, for Djokovic, the great disappointment of the missed opportunity to win the 24th Slam trophy remains. The Serbian remains with 23, the same as the American Serena Williams, but one less than the Australian Margaret Court. Djokovic also said goodbye to his dream of making a “golden slam” by winning the four biggest tournaments within a calendar year. Earlier in 2023, he triumphed in the Australian Open and Roland Garros.
The defeat was his first on Center Court since 2013 and first at Wimbledon since 2017. Djokovic remains with seven titles from the tournament, one short of record holder Roger Federer.
The match started with a difficult service game for Djokovic, who had to save a break point. However, the Serbian managed and quickly took full control of the game. He took a 5-0 game lead before Alcaraz even got a game in the match.
The first set ended 32 minutes after the start of the match, in which Alcaraz took only 16 points out of 45 played.
However, the 20-year-old Spaniard showed that it is not by chance that he is number 1 in the world ranking and made his first break in the match at the beginning of the second set to lead the game 2:0.
However, the 36-year-old Djokovic did not break and immediately managed to return the break to level the game at 2:2. Minutes followed in which both players won their serves with relative ease, leading to a tiebreak.
In it, Djokovic, who had not lost 15 straight tiebreaks in Grand Slam matches, took a 3-0 lead and looked to be on the verge of taking the second set. Alcaraz reduced his deficit to 2:3 points with two excellent serves, after which the Serbian tried a short ball, which, however, failed to go over the net for 3:3.
Djokovic still reached a set point at 6-5 points, but then missed two backhand shots, sending them into the net. Thus, the Spaniard reached a set ball and with a passing shot from the return managed to win the second set with 8:6 points in the tiebreak.
The world number one used the momentum from the second set win and started the third with a break. Djokovic had two opportunities to break back in the fourth game, but Alcaraz showed a lot of maturity and held serve for a 3-1 game.
A colossal fifth game followed, lasting an astonishing 26 minutes – just a few short of the entire first set. In it, Alcaraz and Djokovic went through 13 draws, and the Spaniard managed to get another break on his seventh opportunity.
Trailing 1-4 games and with two breaks, Djokovic made no further efforts to turn the third set around and soon after it ended at 6-1 in favor of his younger opponent.
The Serbian took a long break of nearly ten minutes before the start of the fourth set and returned transformed. He saved two break points in the second game and served the first break of the set shortly after. He broke for a 3-2 game, taking advantage of his third break point.
The breakthrough upset Alcaraz, who had been flawless in the previous two hours of play. The Spaniard was unable to return the break, and on the contrary – he conceded another one in the last game, with Djokovic leveling the sets after a double fault by his opponent.
In the first two games of the decisive fifth, both tennis players missed an opportunity to break.
In the third game, in which the Serbian was on serve, Alcaraz had another chance to win his opponent’s serve and this time he managed to do it. This prompted an angry reaction from Djokovic, who broke his racket with a hit into the wooden peg supporting the net in the center of the court. This, of course, caused the indignation of the spectators, who included the Royal Family of Great Britain, the King of Spain, a number of former champions of the tournament, as well as celebrities.
Until the end, Djokovic made every effort to return the break and keep chances for his record 24th Slam trophy, but the young Alcaraz did not flinch for a moment and with a calm game of his own serve closed the match 6:4.
