Carlos Alcaraz was in deferential mood in the minutes before his second Wimbledon final. “No, you go first,” the Spanish defending champion insisted of Novak Djokovic, smiling broadly as the pair began the walk from the championship dressing room to Centre Court.
Alcaraz was no less accommodating once they arrived, breezily granting Djokovic the choice of towel boxes and then, having won the coin toss, electing to receive with an almost apologetic air. Such are the qualities – humility, respect, good cheer – that, at the age of 21, have already earned Alcaraz a place in the collective heart.
Modesty, though, should not be mistaken for meekness. Alcaraz may be a smiling assassin, but he is an assassin nonetheless, and over the two hours and 27 minutes that followed he ruthlessly exposed the limitations of an opponent whose mere presence in the final, barely a month after undergoing surgery on a torn meniscus in his right knee, was a victory in itself.
Summoning his finest tennis of the fortnight, Alcaraz stormed to a 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) victory, retaining the title he wrested from Djokovic’s grasp in contrastingly epic fashion last summer to take his tally of grand slam titles to four. In every possible sense, it was an uncomfortable afternoon for Djokovic, who has won seven of his 24 grand slam titles at the All England Club but, forced to play out of his forehand corner more often than his knee could comfortably withstand, never looked likely to add an eighth.
Only Rafael Nadal has inflicted a more one-sided defeat on Djokovic in a major final and, but for a late wobble on Alcaraz’s part, this loss might have been almost as comprehensive as the 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 hammering the Serbian world No 2 suffered at Roland Garros in 2020.
Serving at 5-4 in the third set, Alcaraz missed three championship points in row, brought to grief by a double fault, a penetrating return from Djokovic, and a swing volley that he drove narrowly wide after a distracting cry from the crowd. But like Roger Federer, the only other man in the open era to win his first four major finals, Alcaraz seems to have been born for these occasions. Broken for the only time in the match, the Spaniard steadied himself to force a tiebreak, where a timely drop shot carried him to match point before Djokovic netted a backhand to signal the end of his challenge.
Afterwards, Alcaraz spoke respectfully of his opponent’s achievement in mounting a run to the final of a tournament that it seemed scarcely credible the 37-year-old would even play after his brush with the surgeon’s knife.
“I still believe Novak is Superman,” said Alcaraz. “What he’s done in this tournament with a surgery just a few weeks before the tournament began is amazing. As I said on court, I was talking with my team [about how] the work he’s done has been unbelievable.
“He gave himself the chance to be able to play the tournament. [Djokovic] making the final is something out of this world for me. I beat him today but, for me, Novak is still Superman.”
At this point, Alcaraz perhaps ought to be donning a cape himself. Following his victory over Alexander Zverev in last month’s French Open final, he becomes only the sixth man in the open era – not to mention the youngest – to win at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same season. The other members of that elite club – Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg and Nadal, Federer and Djokovic – are all in double figures for grand slam wins, an indication of Alcaraz’s extraordinary trajectory.
“It’s a great feeling, thinking about being the French Open winner and Wimbledon champion the same year, that just a few players have done it before,” said Alcaraz. “It’s unbelievable.”
The direction the afternoon would take was foreshadowed in the opening game, a 14-minute tussle on Djokovic’s serve that took in seven deuces, with Alcaraz finally prevailing on his fifth break point. Even at that stage, the Serb was wasting no opportunity to go to the net, a notable departure from his signature baseline game. It was the first suggestion that his surgically repaired knee would not allow him to compete effectively from the back of the court. It also pointed to a wider tactical dilemma for Djokovic, who struggled to contain the Spaniard’s power and variety in the rallies, yet fared little better when he sought to shorten the points in the forecourt.
“I was inferior on the court,” said Djokovic. “That’s it. He was a better player; he played every single shot better than I did.
“He wasn’t also allowing me to have any free points on my serve, he was reading the serve, he was playing with a lot of variety. I’ve never seen him serve that way, to be honest. I mean. 136[mph] – maybe I was missing something this tournament, but I’ve never seen him serve that fast.”
Djokovic’s predicament was underscored at the start of the second set, where Alcaraz broke the sidelines with a heavy forehand, prising a groundstroke error from his scrambling opponent to bring up break points, then converted the opportunity with a dipping forehand pass that drew a volleying error. On a day when Alcaraz produced his best serving display of the tournament, it was the platform he needed to stretch what would become an unassailable lead.
“It was a great match for me,” said Alcaraz. “Obviously Novak didn’t play at his best in the first two sets, a lot of mistakes, so I made the most of that.”
He has made the most of all his grand slam final opportunities so far, not least at Wimbledon, where his record of 18 wins from his first 20 matches is bettered only by Laver. On this evidence, there will surely be many more to come.