Carlos Alcaraz, who played brilliantly, won Wimbledon again. In the final, the Spaniard won surprisingly easily against Novak Djokovic. And prevented tennis history from being made.
Princess Kate presented the trophy to Carlos Alcaraz and the Spaniard proudly raised the golden cup. With a fascinating performance, the tennis pro triumphed at Wimbledon for the second time and destroyed Novak Djokovic’s hopes of setting a historic record. In a long, surprisingly one-sided repeat of last year’s final, the outstanding 21-year-old beat the sometimes perplexed Serb 6:2, 6:2, 7:6 (7:4) and celebrated his fourth Grand Slam title.
“It’s a dream for me to win the trophy. I repeated my dream. As I said before, for me this is the most beautiful tournament, the most beautiful course and obviously the most beautiful trophy,” said Alcaraz. Princess Kate later congratulated him again before he presented himself to the fans on the balcony: “Enjoy the victory.”
The youngster dominates
Alcaraz achieved the rare feat of securing the Grand Slam title on grass after his French Open victory on clay in June. “Great champions have done it. I don’t consider myself as great a champion as they are,” he said, with a sideways glance at Djokovic or other greats such as Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. With his triumph, he underlined that the younger generation is becoming stronger and stronger.
A year ago, Alcaraz had spoiled Djokovic’s chance of winning the grass court classic at London’s Church Road in five sets in the final. This time, the Spaniard dominated the generational duel in the first two sets with Djokovic, who had no chance for a long time.
After 2 hours and 27 minutes, the world number three converted the fourth match point. It was only when he served to win the third set at 5:4 and missed three match points in a row that Alcaraz briefly lost his composure. In the tiebreak, however, he won the match, denied Djokovic the revenge he had hoped for and then gave kisses to the audience.
“Recognition to Carlos, he played perfect tennis today. I tried to delay it a bit. But he is a deserving champion,” said the 37-year-old Djokovic. He was a little disappointed so soon after the lost match, but when he looks back on everything, he will appreciate what he and his team have achieved. “I try to remember how surreal it is to be here.”
No 25th Grand Slam title for Djokovic
Just 39 days after his knee surgery, the Serbian tennis star could have won his 25th Grand Slam title and set an all-time record. But the 37-year-old failed to distance himself from Australian Margaret Court, who collected her 24 Grand Slam titles between 1960 and 1973. In addition, the men’s Wimbledon record of eight titles remains with the retired Swiss Federer.
Alcaraz’s Grand Slam honours now include the titles at the US Open 2022, Wimbledon 2023 and 2024 and Roland Garros 2024. With four triumphs in his first four finals at the most important tournaments in his sport, he is following in the footsteps of tennis icon Federer, who was the only one to achieve this in the Open era. It was only when it came to his dancing skills and the Champions’ evening with women’s champion Barbora Krejcikova that he had to admit weakness: “Could be better, I think.” The Czech had prevailed 6:2, 2:6, 6:4 against the Italian Jasmine Paolini on Saturday.
Princess Kate watches the finale
When Djokovic began serving on the final day of this edition, Princess Kate, wearing a purple dress, was also seated in the Royal Box. She was greeted with great applause at an appearance together with Princess Charlotte a few months after the announcement of her cancer diagnosis.
The atmosphere on the completely full Centre Court was immediately great. The first game alone lasted over 13 minutes – and things couldn’t have started better for Alcaraz. While Alcaraz had botched the first set twelve months ago, this time he took Djokovic’s first service game straight away. The advantage was immediately on the Spaniard’s side. With a double fault, Djokovic gifted his young opponent the second break to make it 4-1.
Alcaraz impressive
The record Grand Slam winner had certainly imagined the opening match differently. As in the previous six rounds, a bandage protected his right knee. He had injured his meniscus in Paris, but it had not prevented him from having a chance at the title.
The second set began like the first – with a break from the Spanish number three in the world. Alcaraz impressed the 15,000 spectators with unreachable stop balls, direct point wins from the baseline and passing balls. The youngster in particular offered the most spectacular points. The Serb was not having his best day and made unusual mistakes at important moments. A volley error led to the next break, followed by another double fault to make it 2:5. After 75 minutes, the Spaniard was leading 2:0 sets.
In the third set, Djokovic raised his level. It was finally a balanced final. As the set approached the decisive phase, Alcaraz pulled ahead again. He secured the break with a backhand passing shot, but still had to go into the tiebreak.
Source: Stern
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
