London -Those who expected the more experienced of the two athletes to avenge last year’s defeat and avoid another failure couldn’t have been more wrong. “He was better from start to finish, he deserved the victory. He played every shot better than I did,” Novak Djokovic had to admit after the thrashing in the Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz. While last year he lost the title fight in the grass-court Grand Slam in five sets, on Sunday he suffered a 2:6, 2:6, and 6:7 defeat.
“Novak didn’t perform his best in the first two sets, he made a lot of mistakes. And I took full advantage of that,” commented the 21-year-old Spaniard on his clear dominance.
And he didn’t even convert the first three match points he earned in the third set at 5:4, eventually overcoming his Serbian opponent in the tiebreak.
“I don’t think I could have done anything more,” Djokovic assessed at the press conference, highlighting the weapon with which Alcaraz troubled him the most. “I’ve never seen him serve like that.”
The young Spaniard lost only one service game in the entire final, precisely in the mentioned tenth game of the third set. Apart from this small lapse, he otherwise tormented the usually excellent returning Serb.
By defending last year’s triumph at the All England Club, he added his fourth Grand Slam trophy to his collection. And the second one this year: a month and a half ago, he celebrated at Roland Garros as well.
This double has been achieved by only the sixth player in the Open Era.
“From this perspective, the title is incredible for me,” he appreciates.
At 21, he has also collected more Grand Slam trophies than Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer had at this age. This suggests that Alcaraz might surpass them.
“I’ve had a great start to my career, but I don’t intend to stop, I want to keep forging my path. In the end, I want to be on the same level as all these great players,” he assures.
So, Señor Carlos, how many Grand Slams do you believe you can win? You just thwarted Djokovic’s attempt at his 25th, your compatriot Nadal owns 22, and former tennis player Federer has 20.
“I don’t know what my limit is,” admits the Spaniard. “We’ll see at the end of my career whether I’ll have 25, 30, 15, four… I don’t know.”
And it’s very likely that in the coming years, he won’t only have to look out for the mentioned trio but also for his peer Jannik Sinner, the champion of this year’s Australian Open and the current world number one.
“I think it’s good for tennis that new faces are winning big tournaments,” says Alcaraz. “I’m glad we have such a rivalry with Jannik.”
And what about you, Mr. Novak? Will you find the strength at 37 to conquer the 25th Grand Slam, which would break Margaret Court’s record?
“To have a chance to beat Carlos or Jannik next time, I will have to play much better,” the Serb admitted after the Wimbledon final. “But this is not the first time I’ve faced such a situation in my career. Whenever I face a challenge, I learn from it and improve.”
His next big goal is the Olympic Games in Paris, which will kick off next Friday. And Djokovic will aim for the one major achievement that still eludes him: the gold medal.
“The Olympics are a big goal for me this year. I don’t feel any limitations, I still want to play at this level further and further,” he refuses to consider that he might be touring the major events for the last time.
Even though he had no chance in the London afternoon on Sunday, he’s at least pleased that he got this far only a month and a few days after knee surgery, which he injured at Roland Garros.
“If someone had told me three or four weeks ago that I would be in the Wimbledon final, I would have taken it, of course.”
And Alcaraz praised him for his admirable recovery. “It’s incredible that he managed to prepare so quickly. Even though I beat him in the final, he is still Superman to me,” he recalled what he had said about the Serb’s rapid recovery before the tournament.
Their next showdown could come very soon, with the aura of the five rings surely adding similar luster as the filled Center Court of the All England Club.
And losing to Alcaraz in a major tournament for the third time in a row would be a very bitter pill for Djokovic to swallow.
