Is one watershed. One of those moments that indicate a before and after within a great story. Something that can be compared to what happened on July 2, 2001when a 19 year old Roger Federer eliminated in the round of 16 Pete Sampras. The victory at Wimbledon Of Carlos Alcaraz (second career Slam after the 2022 US Open) on Novak Djokovic takes the form of a change of perspective. Il young who beat the vecchio. The new generation who finally got the better of the old one even in the Slamafter a decade of pursuit and many tennis players sacrificed on the altar of Federer’s greatness (and records), Nadal and Djokovic. For Spain is the third winner at Wimbledon, after Manolo Santana in 1966 and Rafael Nadal in 2008 and 2010.
Carlos Alcaraz has completed a passage so often invoked and always postponed. He did it with a serve and a winning shot on the first match point, followed by the roar of a Centre Court in ecstasy. A path in which she defeated Jeremy ChardyAlexander MullerNicolas JarryMatteo BerrettiniHolger Rune It’s Daniil Medvedev. And to think that it didn’t start in the best way for Alcaraz, with a clear 6-1 for Nole. Then the Spaniard shook off the tension and started a battle that lasted almost five hours and lived point by point, which reached its climax in the fifth game of the third set. Twenty-six minutes of the game concluded with the Spanish break. The real turning point of the whole match.
For the Spaniard it is not the first victory in his career against Nole. He had already beaten him in a spectacular semifinal, finished in the third set, of Masters 1000 of Madrid a year ago. So why should this win be any different? Because all the papers are in order for subvert the twenty-year order who governs tennis? On the other hand, in the past the sunset of the gods was announced Big Three many times – especially after Medvedev’s success Us Open 2021 (against Nole, moreover) and after the title and the conquest of world number 1 by Alcaraz himself in 2022, again in New York – only to be proven wrong at the following Grand Slam tournament. The answer is very simple: the Wimbledon final is something else. Beating one of the Big Three (moreover Djokovic) ai Championships – where the Serbian won 7 volte and had not lost since the quarterfinals of the 2017 – has a much higher meaning, even symbolically speaking. On Center Court Nole hadn’t lost for ten years, since the final of 2013 against Andy Murray.
Alcaraz’s feat stopped the achievement of a whole series of records that were waiting for Nole, including the 8 titles of Roger Federer and the 24 Grand Slams of Margaret Court (record holder between male and female). He also defended his first world position – which otherwise would have reverted to Djokovic -, extending his lead to around 1000 points. Finally there is the most important fact of all: the mission Grande Slam di Nole went bankrupt. And probably definitively, considering that next year Djokovic will have 37 years old. In short, Alcaraz’s first Wimbledon is not just any triumph, but something that leaves a deep mark on the history of this sport.
It was a definitive generational clash. Also because Alcaraz and Djokovic have been separated for sixteen years. In the Open Era only two finals saw a bigger gap (those at Wimbledon and the US Open in 1974 between Jimmy Connors e Ken Rosewall, 18 years difference). A moment that could now be an inspiration for many other young talents, from Jannik Sinner a Holger Rune, da Stefanos Tsitsipas a I Sheltonup to Lawrence musetti. Maybe Djokovic will come back to win a Grand Slam, but in any case, Alcaraz’s victory has changed the inertia of a balance to which fans had become accustomed. Now the player to beat (even in Grand Slams) is no longer one of the Big Three, but a 20-year-old Spaniard from overflowing personality and that he has received the gift of being extra-gifted. One destined to characterize tennis for at least the next twenty years.