Madrid
16/07/2023 a las 22:01
CEST
The number one surpassed one of the ‘totems’ of his sport for the first time in a Grand Slam final and legitimized his reign with his second ‘major’
Fifth set of a final, another at Wimbledon, for history. Carlos Alcaraz breaks Novak Djokovic’s service just started the set and puts his finger to his ear, in a typical gesture of the Serbian, who on the other side bursts a racket against the post that supports the net. 16 years separate those who, without a doubt, are today today the two best players in the worldthe largest age difference in a Grand Slam final since 1974. And at times, the most experienced, the one who best gives the sensation of living with the tension of the moment, seems like the one who has just left adolescence behind.
It was, a priori, an (almost) impossible for the Murcian. in front was the most successful tennis player in historywhat in the world of video games is known as the ‘final boss‘. The monster, a “hungry” animal defending his supremacy, and by extension that of the Big Three after the definitive retirement of Roger Federer and the temporary one of Rafael Nadal. In the garden of his house, the center court of Wimbledon, where he had not lost a match in the last ten years, where he could match the eight titles of the Swiss and the 24 majors of Margaret Court.
And it was, even more so, after a first set in which a Absence of steel had passed over the Murcian tennis player. 6-1, and a scary precedent. Because whenever the Serbian won the opening set in Wimbledon (77 times until this Sunday) had taken the cat to the water in London. And it was, even more so, when both tennis players reached sudden death in the third set. The key moment of the clash was played in Djokovic territory, in a luck where the Balkan had won the last 15 disputed in a Grand Slam and where he came to have a set point that could have settled the match. Big words.
Facing the memory of Paris
He faced all this, Alcaraz, one of those athletes who, using clichés, does not know the impossible. To that, and to the recent memory of the nerves and tension that crouched him down, as he himself acknowledged, when just 37 days ago, also against Nole and in a similar setting such as the Roland Garros semifinals, he had to retire after have a cramping episode.
There was Alcaraz, at this point, the last screen of the video game, the one that ends the story, the most difficult, with everything against it. To a ball from 2-0 against in the tie-break, for the title of the most prestigious tournament in the world of tennis, for number one and for something more than all that. The generational change, longed for and desired, had a name but lacked a date, and the Murcian, as in everything demonstrated so far in his career, was in a hurry to fix it.
June 16, 2023. The day that Alcaraz, precocious like few and cheeky like none, legitimized everything built up to now in his disruptive career and began, now, his era. At Wimbledon, against the Serbian in five sets, he was already in the first final that he played, something that had not happened since Federer achieved it in 2024.
Because until now, and despite the fact that he already had a US Open, four 1,000 Masters and was the youngest in history to reach number one, he did not feel that way. Because it was an excessive booty for his 20 years but that, in his head, he had a ‘but’.
At first like Federer
Most of those victories had come without Djokovic in the fray, sidelined in several tournaments due to his troubles with the coronavirus vaccine. An uncontrollable factor for the Murcian, but it was ringing in his head, knowing that he had all the tools to hurt him and obsessed with the moment of coming face to face with him.
Carlos Alcaraz, in the Wimbledon final. | Agencies
“Winning Wimbledon the way I’ve already done one of the legends of our sport… It’s what I dream of, what I work for and fight for, it’s what I believe in myself. same. I thought that I could beat him, that I am here to impose myself on the bestand today I have shown it”, he assured after the crash, before paying homage to the overthrown king.
“Novak is an incredible player, who has inspired me a lot. I’ve been watching him win since I was born, it’s incredible to be able to play here against you”, said the number one, who He accepted the defeat with sportsmanship. “Today I lost against a better player”acknowledged the Serbian, who was on the verge of reaching Federer as the player with the most Wimbledon titles and at 36 years old he will have to find a way to stop a vein that threatens to tyrannize the circuit for the next decade.
He repeats tournament after tournament Alcaraz, little given to hiding his boundless ambition, that if he plays at his level few can face him. Far from being a bluff, his thinking largely reflects what happens in each of his matches. Win, most of them, or lose, he’s the boss. And if he proves it even with Djokovic, it seems difficult to imagine how far he will take his tennis. Because now, once the last screen has been passed, he is the monster.