With a performance full of courage and charisma, Carlos Alcaraz ended Novak Djokovic’s five-year reign as Wimbledon champion, won a second grand slam title and ushered in a new era in men’s tennis.

Watched by King Felipe VI of Spain, Alcaraz prevailed 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 to become the first men’s singles winner at the All England Club from outside the quartet of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray or Djokovic since Lleyton Hewitt in 2002.

He did it over the long haul, too, coming through a final that was, at four hours and 43 minutes, the third longest in Wimbledon history. It was the perfect riposte to those who questioned the 20-year-old’s mentality and resilience after he was overcome by anxiety in his first grand-slam meeting with Djokovic at Roland Garros last month, suffering a debilitating attack of cramp.

“I am a totally different player than [at the] French Open,” said Alcaraz. “I grew up a lot since that moment. I learned a lot from that moment. As I said before the final, I took lessons from that match. 

“I prepared a little bit different mentally before this match. I could deal with the pressure, the nerves, better than I did at the French Open.

“Making history [as] I did today, it’s the happiest moment of my life. 

“Beating Novak, winning a Wimbledon championship, is something that I dreamt about since I start to playing tennis. [It’s] the biggest moment of my life.”

Coming from anyone else, the idea of undergoing wholesale transformation in the space of a month would seem preposterous. In Alcaraz’s case, the evidence has been there to see. Since making a faltering start to the grass-court season at Queen’s, where he arrived having played just six matches on the surface in his life and went on to win the title, he has looked more accomplished with every win. 

At Wimbledon, he lost just two sets on the way to the quarter-finals, from which point emphatic victories over Holger Rune and Daniil Medvedev suggested he might push Djokovic close. Few, however, predicted that Alcaraz would actually dethrone the defending champion, let alone in the manner that he did. Here was a match for the ages, a contest that will be remembered for years to come for its drama, intensity and wider significance. For years, we have wondered when a new generation would rise to challenge the traditional order; here was the first evidence of such a moment. 

“Beating Novak at his best, on this stage, making history, being the guy to beat him after 10 years unbeaten on that court, is amazing for me,” said Alcaraz. “It’s something that I will never forget. 

“It’s great for the new generation as well, I think, to see me beating him and making them think that they are capable to do it.” 

Predictably, it required a monumental effort to prevent Djokovic from equalling Roger Federer’s record tally of eight titles. The Serb had not lost on Centre Court since 2013, when he was beaten in the final by Andy Murray, an interested onlooker here. When Djokovic raced through the opening set in just 34 minutes, making just two unforced errors in the process, the odds were stacked against Alcaraz altering that remarkable statistic. The 36-year-old had only lost five times in his career after winning the opening set at a major – and never at Wimbledon. 

With the chance to complete the third leg of the grand slam at stake, following his victories at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, as well as the opportunity to match Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 grand slam titles, it was a dream start for Djokovic. And as he recovered from an early break down in the second set to force a tiebreak, it seemed likely to get even better. Djokovic came into the match on a winning run of 15 consecutive tiebreaks in grand slam play, and when Alcaraz made a tentative approach to the net at 5-5 in the shootout, allowing the Serb to slot away a precise backhand pass, the match was effectively a point away from being over.

“If I would have lost that set, probably I couldn’t lift the trophy,” said Alcaraz. “I probably would have lost in straight sets.”

Crucially, though, Alcaraz didn’t lose it. Instead, Djokovic made two unforced backhand errors to bring up a set point for the top seed, who gleefully converted the opportunity with a thumping backhand pass.

“Just two very poor backhands,” said Djokovic. “That’s it. The match shifted to his side.”

The reality was a little more complicated than that. A break early in the third set put Alcaraz ahead for the first time in the match but, even as he finally began to find his rhythm and range, Djokovic continued to press hard. In the fourth game, the Spaniard boldly fended off the second of two break points with a 112mph second serve to maintain his lead. Then came a monumental game on Djokovic’s serve, a match within a match that lasted for 26 minutes and spanned 13 deuces before Alcaraz finally converted his seventh break point. 

That setback temporarily knocked the stuffing out of Djokovic, who retreated to the sanctuary of the bathroom at the end of the set and did not return for seven minutes. Booed on his return, Djokovic immediately set about his task with renewed relish, pushing hard against the Alcaraz serve and final making a breakthrough in the fifth game when the Spaniard, attempting to fend off a third break point, missed an attempted dink at the net. It was all Djokovic needed to force a decider.

On to the fifth we went, where Alcaraz was denied an early break point by a typically precise serve down the centre-line from Djokovic. In the third game, however, an extraordinary display of defensive resilience from Alcaraz culminated with the Spaniard drilling a backhand pass down the line to secure a break he would not relinquish. Djokovic obliterated his racket against the net post after that point, earning a code violation for his troubles. It was a rare loss of equilibrium from the Serb, but then he has rarely faced a challenge like Alcaraz.

“I haven’t played a player like him ever, to be honest,” said Djokovic. “Roger and Rafa have their own strengths and weaknesses. Carlos is very complete player, [he has] amazing adaptive capabilities that I think are a key for longevity and for successful career on all surfaces.”

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At that point, the Czech had no idea if she would ever again recapture the form that propelled her to the French Open final in 2019 and won her an Olympic silver medal two years later in Tokyo. As her ranking plummeted, that uncertainty was apparently shared by her clothing sponsor, who ended a four-year association with Vondrousova when her contract expired at the end of last year.

Suffice to say that somewhere in Orgeon, a Nike executive will be clearing their desk tonight after Vondrousova, unseeded and unsponsored, defeated Ons Jabeur in straight sets to become the lowest-ranked Wimbledon champion in history.

The world No 42, who had previously won just two main draw matches on grass in her life, completed a fairy-tale run at the All England Club with a 6-4, 6-4 win over last year’s finalist Ons Jabeur, the Tunisian sixth seed. It was a victory so improbable that even Vondrousova struggled to take it in.

“I think it was the most impossible grand slam for me to win, so I didn’t even think of it,” said Vondrousova, the first unseeded women’s champion since the system was introduced in 1924. “When we came, I was just like, ‘Try to win a couple of matches.’ Now this happened. It’s crazy.

“I had a cast last year at this time. It was impossible. I was watching my best friend here playing qualies. I was a tourist here.  

“When I was coming back, I didn’t know what’s going to happen, if I can play at this level again. I mean, this seems impossible. On grass, I didn’t play well before.”

The unexpected nature of Vondrousova’s presence in the final undoubtedly worked in her favour. In the final set of her quarter-final win over Jessica Pegula, the 24-year-old was a point away from falling 5-1 behind. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she went about her business against Jabeur like a woman playing with house money. Vondrousova recovered from 3-1 down in both sets and showed no hint of nerves until the final game, where she went 40-0 up only to double-fault on her first championship point. Moments later, the Czech lunged to stab away a final backhand volley and then collapsed to the grass on her back. 

“I’m just so happy that I could stay focused,” said Vondrousova, who defeated Elina Svitolina, another crowd favourite, in the semi-finals. “It’s very tough. People are cheering and everything. When it was 40-0, I couldn’t breathe. 

“I just was thinking to myself, ‘Just be over.’ I was like crazy nervous. It was such a relief when I put the match point in.”

Vondrousova’s elation was Jabeur’s heartbreak. The 28-year-old began the afternoon hoping to become the first Arab and African woman to win a major singles title. She ended it contemplating the devastation of a third straight defeat in a grand slam showpiece, having previously reached last year’s Wimbledon and US Open finals. 

Twice a break up in the first set and once in the second, Jabeur struggled to cope with both the magnitude of the moment and Vondrousova’s rhythm-disrupting array of southpaw spins and changes of pace. Jabeur held points to win each of the first five games, but for every step forward she took there were two steps back. In the third game, she relinquished an early break with a pair of unforced errors; after missing a short ball at the start of the fourth, she betrayed the depth of her anxiety by whacking her thigh in fury.

While the strength of that reaction felt premature at such an early stage, it was hardly surprising that Jabeur’s emotions were running at a high pitch. Ranked 36 places above her opponent and significantly more accomplished on grass, where she has won two of her four titles, Jabeur was the clear favourite. She has made no secret of her ambition to win the tournament, and in defeating four former major winners on her way to the final, she appeared to have done the hardest part. 

After defeating Elena Rybakina, the defending champion, and Aryna Sabalenka, the second seed, in the previous two rounds, her progress to the title round was accompanied by a sense of destiny. In a sense, though, those wins were part of the problem. After absorbing pace against two of the game’s biggest hitters, Jabeur faced the entirely different challenge of generating it. That dichotomy lay at the heart of her 31 unforced errors.

“I believe that it was a completely different match from the last three that I had,” said Jabeur, who also saw off Bianca Andreescu and Petra Kvitova in earlier rounds. “So maybe adapting to her rhythm was very difficult for me. Plus, the pressure and the stress of the final.  

“I didn’t think she made a lot of mistakes. I thought she served good. I think she played maybe a perfect final.”

That was true enough, yet Vondrousova’s excellence was also magnified by Jabeur’s inability to find her usual fluency. From 4-2 up in the opener, the Tunisian won just two more points in the first set, a wretched sequence that left her battling history as well as Vondrousova. For all the resilience Jabeur showed to fight back against Rybakina and Sabalenka, the last woman to recover from a set down in the final three rounds of a major was Helen Wills Moody at the 1925 US Open. Briefly, it looked as though she might do it. But after a three-game flourish in which she looked more like her true self, Jabeur crumbled again, losing five of the last six games. She was consoled by the Princess of Wales in the aftermath.

Vondrousova’s victory continues a rich tradition of Czech success at the tournament, where past champions include Martina Navratilova, Jana Novotna and Petra Kvitova. The latest triumph was watched by both Navratilova, who is now an American citizen, and Jan Kodes, winner of the men’s title 50 years ago and an animated presence in Vondrousova’s box. Also seated among her team was Helena Sukova, five times a singles quarter-finalist at the All England Club and the winner of seven doubles titles. 

Another important presence for Vondrousova was her husband of eight years, Stepan Simek, who flew in to attend the final after abandoning cat-sitting duties at the couple’s home in Prague. It was Simek that she called during a crucial rain delay against Pegula while the roof was closed (as it was here – a factor that, as she acknowledged, probably worked to her advantage), later crediting his calm words of encouragement for her victory. 

“I think when I came to the box, he cried,” said Vondrousova. “I saw him after, and he cried a lot. I think that’s the first emotion I saw from him over the eight years.”

The contrasting emotions of the occasion were reflected in the two camps either side of match point. While Vondrousova’s younger sister wept as the champion closed in on victory, Jabeur’s husband and trainer, Karim Kamoun, was no more able than his wife to disguise his devastation in the aftermath.

“I think this is the most painful loss of my career,” said Jabeur, through a veil of tears, in her on-court interview. “It’s going to a tough day today for me, but I’m not going to give up. I’m going to come back stronger and win a grand slam medal. 

“It was an amazing tournament for me, I wish I could have continued to the end. I want to thank my team for always believing in me and we’re going to make it one day, I promise you. 

“It’s been a tough journey, but that’s tennis. I promise I’ll come back one day and win this tournament.”

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To judge from the emphatic manner in which the Spanish world No 1 prevailed in his semi-final against Daniil Medvedev, things will be different this time. How different remains to be seen. To beat Djokovic on Centre Court, where he has not lost a match for a decade, remains one of the toughest challenges in the sport, up there alongside facing Rafael Nadal on Court Philippe Chatrier or, for that matter, Djokovic in Rod Laver Arena. Yet there has been an intent and efficiency about Alcaraz’s performances at this Wimbledon that bodes well for his assault on the Serb’s Centre Court citadel.

The Spaniard’s shot-making has been as bold and beautiful as ever. The trademark combination of ferocity and finesse was in full flow against Medvedev, Alcaraz alternating thunderbolt forehands with rhythm-disrupting slices, dinks and drop shots that left the 6ft 6in Russian in full-blown octopus mode. Stretching wide to retrieve bullets one moment, bending low to dig out daisy-cutters the next, Medvedev must have felt as though he was trapped in a tennis torture chamber. 

Yet everything Alcaraz did, he did with purpose – and that is very Djokovic. The speed at which his grass-court game has evolved over the past four weeks, as he has adapted his movement and stroke-play to the demands of a surface on which he had previously played just six matches in his life, has been no less prodigious than any other aspect of his development. At Queen’s, that accelerated progress carried the 20-year-old to his first title on grass at only his third attempt; at Wimbledon, it has seen him advance through the rounds with a more clinical edge than we are accustomed to seeing from him.

Alcaraz’s progress has been akin to that of Cristiano Ronaldo in his early years at Manchester United. There has been a more purposeful marshalling of his talents; fewer stepovers and flicks merely for the sake of it, as it were, and more discipline. 

“Against someone like Carlos, Novak, Rafa [Nadal], you need to be at your best,” said Medvedev. “Maybe against other guys you can be playing not bad, you’re going to have your chances, during the match you’re going to find something to work with. 

“With Carlos, you need to be at your absolute best and that’s how you can win. Unfortunately, I was not.”

Djokovic, of course, a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) winner over Jannik Sinner in the first semi-final, is a different beast. He is rarely far from his best on Centre Court, least of all in a Wimbledon final, a stage he has now reached for a fifth year in a row and a ninth time in all. As ever where the 36-year-old is concerned, history will be on the line. A fifth straight title would see him match the men’s record for consecutive wins currently shared by Bjorn Borg and Roger Federer. An eighth win in total would also equal Federer’s all-time men’s record of eight titles, usurp the Swiss as Wimbledon’s oldest champion, and haul him level with Margaret Court’s tally of 24 majors. 

“I think it’s more special to play a final against a legend from our sport,” said Alcaraz. “If I win, it could be amazing for me – [to] not only win a Wimbledon title, but [to] do it against Novak, would be super special.  

“I always say if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. Novak is one of them. It would be great if I can do it.”

While those are sound sentiments, Alcaraz’s choice of words also hinted at a respect for Djokovic that perhaps remains just the wrong side of reverence. There’s a reason schoolteachers often address pupils by their surnames, and it’s not because they want to make friends. You will rarely hear Djokovic refer to Nadal by his given name, for the simple reason that the Spaniard has traditionally been his greatest rival – an opponent to be beaten, not a buddy to be embraced. If Alcaraz is to win Wimbledon, a little less “Novak” and a little more “Djokovic” may be required. Perhaps that is a mentality that the Spaniard’s psychologist, Isabel Balaguer, will be eager to impress on him. 

“She help me a lot,” said Alcaraz. “I will talk with her about how to prepare the match, that important moment for me, that is not going to be easy.”

Alcaraz is alive to the magnitude of the occasion. He has achieved a great deal in a short time. We shall see if it is enough.

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It is no secret that Djokovic thrives on adversity but, at a set and a break to the good in his 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) Wimbledon semi-final win over Jannik Sinner, he had encountered precious little of that. Sinner, the Italian eighth seed, is a fine player; so fine, in fact, that he led Djokovic by two sets to love when the pair met in the Wimbledon quarter-finals last year. But while each rally was fiercely contested, the defending champion had an iron grip on proceedings as he served for a 3-1 lead in the second set.

It was at that point that Richard Haigh, the British chair umpire, intervened. As Djokovic stretched wide to his left and fired a piercing two-hander down the line, he emitted a loud grunt that reverberated around Centre Court under the closed roof. Haigh deemed it a hindrance and awarded the point to Sinner. It was a tight call – the noise began after the ball had crossed the net, but before it bounced on Sinner’s side – and the Serb’s consternation was plain. Djokovic approached the chair to remonstrate briefly with Haigh, but quickly gathered himself to continue. 

Gifted a platform in the game, Sinner endeavoured to make the most of it. He ripped a backhand winner to reach deuce, then out-rallied Djokovic to bring up a break point that he narrowly failed to convert. At which point, Haigh interjected again, giving Djokovic a time violation. Once more showing supreme self-control, Djokovic took a moment to compose himself and went on to hold. A potential turning point had been negotiated, another demonstration given of the teak-tough mentality that has carried the 36-year-old to 23 grand slam titles.

“I’ve never had a hindrance call for an extended grunt,” said Djokovic. “I saw the replay. I saw that my grunt finished before he hit the shot. So I thought the chair umpire’s call was not correct.

“I was just trying to hold things mentally together, and not really get upset, even though I was really upset because I didn’t think it was the right call. 

“I didn’t see the time clock. I could have gone over. You can argue and say if you went over, even if it’s the first time, you should get a time violation, which is okay. It’s by the rules.  

“But at the same time, if it’s the first time it happens, it happens in a game where you already gave me a hindrance, where it’s a close game, rallies. In this particular situation, I feel like the chair umpire should just recognise the moment a little bit more.  

“It was a very stressful game for me to survive and to kind of storm through. It was super important because if he made the break – he was very close, he had a break point – who knows what would happen from that moment onwards. Luckily for me, I stayed calm.”

There was calm, too, albeit laced with anger and derision, when Djokovic later navigated his only real crisis of the match. That came when Sinner held two set points with Djokovic serving at 4-5 in the third set. Disturbed by someone in the crowd between his first and second serves, Djokovic responded with ironic applause and a withering thumbs up. Having fended off the danger to reach deuce, he pointed to his ear, inviting his tormentor to keep talking. That earned him jeers from nearby spectators, but they may as well have stood up and offered a rousing motivational speech; Djokovic went on to hold, mimicked tears in their direction, and then walked off muttering under his breath. Never awaken the beast.

The tiebreak that followed had the air of a formality, as tends to be the case with Djokovic nowadays. Sinner earned the first mini-break with a crunching return winner only to hand it back almost immediately with a double-fault, from which point Djokovic assumed control. He has now won a record 15 grand slam tiebreaks in a row – further evidence of the towering mental strength that has enabled him to remain unbeaten on Centre Court for a decade. 

“I am aware of the tiebreak streak,” said Djokovic. “I think the longer the streak goes, I guess mentally the more resilient or tougher I am in these particular situations.  

“Coming into every tiebreak now, I feel I think more comfortable than my opponent just because of the record. I think that my opponents also know about that record. That mentally makes a difference.”

What also perhaps made a difference is that Sinner, who was contesting his first major semi-final, is like a younger version of Djokovic himself. The 21-year-old possesses smooth groundstrokes that he strikes with immaculate timing and easy power. He has a natural ability to slide on all surfaces, the legacy of a youth spent on the ski slopes of San Candido, the alpine village where he grew up. He plies his trade mainly from the baseline, but has the technique and hand skills to operate comfortably in any area of the court. Yet there remains a gulf in experience between the pair.  

“Obviously you know that you play against the best player in the world at the moment, especially on this surface,” said Sinner. 

“If you think how big he is, you struggle. His mental side is very strong, for sure. Especially the important moments, he knows exactly how to play them. He’s not going to give you something.”

Such is the challenge that awaits Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday. Alcaraz, who later defeated Daniil Medvedev in straight sets, will be contesting his first Wimbledon final; for Djokovic, it will be the fifth in a row and ninth in all. Win it, and he will draw level with Bjorn Borg and Roger Federer, the only men in history to win five on the bounce. He would also equal Federer’s men’s record of eight titles and Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 grand slam titles, completing the third leg of a calendar-year grand slam in the process. And if the crowd are against him as he faces a man 16 years his junior, that will suit Djokovic just fine.

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Minutes earlier, Jabeur had trailed Aryna Sabalenka, the second seed and title favourite, by a set and 4-2, her mission to right the wrongs of Wimbledons past apparently destined to end in heartbreak. Now it was clear this semi-final was far from over.

From that moment on, Sabalenka won just three more games, Jabeur going on to claim a 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-3 victory and a chance to erase the memory of last summer’s agonising final defeat to Elena Rybakina once and for all. 

Was it the finest win of the 28-year-old Tunisian’s career? Quite possibly, although it was hard to tell, given that the win came only a day after Jabeur’s barely less extraordinary victory over Rybakina. The Tunisian has been like an avenging angel at this Wimbledon. Having dished out payback to Rybakina and Sabalenka, her quarter-final conqueror of two years ago, only one more revenge mission stands between her and a first grand slam title. That will come against Marketa Vondrousova, a straight-sets winner over Elina Svitolina in the first semi-final, who has beaten Jabeur twice this year, at the Australian Open and in Indian Wells. 

Yet it so nearly didn’t happen. In a match that followed an eerily similar pattern to her victory over Rybakina, against whom she fell behind after coming within a point of taking the opening set, Jabeur stormed into a 4-2 lead in the first-set tiebreak with a brilliant running forehand winner, only to relinquish the initiative.

Victory would not only have put Sabalenka through to the second major final of her career, following her victory at this year’s Australian Open, but also seen her overtake Iga Swiatek to become the new world No 1. And as the Belarusian continued to send down a blizzard of thunderous serves and groundstrokes to move within two games of her objective, that victory looked certain. Jabeur had other ideas.

“I just wanted to try to break her,” Jabeur said of her pivotal breakthrough in the seventh game of the second set. “It was very difficult for me to return her serve, especially if she was mixing a lot. Even the speed was difficult.  

“I was like, ‘Honestly, I’m not going to give a shit, I’m just going to go in and hit my return.’ It was coming. I was returning much better. 

“She missed some shots that helped me stay in the game. I was fighting for every point. I just waited for a little bit of a chance to get the game, and that’s what happened.”

The artistry of Jabeur’s tennis is such that the earthier aspects of her game are often overlooked. Many reports of her victory over Rybakina suggested she clinched the second set with an acrobatic flourish at the net. In fact, the ball had already been called out by then; the shot that won her the set was a thumping backhand return down the line. As Jabeur observed after that win, she can belt the ball with the best of them when occasion demands, and it was telling that, in another echo of her win over Rybakina, she drew level with Sabalenka courtesy of a similarly meaty backhand return winner.

“I felt like she played a little bit better than me in those key moments,” said Sabalenka. “Everything was going well for me. I just lost it a little bit in the second set, and it was just gone. 

“She was going for crazy shots. I felt like she was doing whatever she wanted, and everything was going in.”

If that appraisal felt a bit like a case of the pot calling the kettle black, given the bruising power of Sabalenka’s own shot-making, it was nonetheless accurate. Down the stretch, Jabeur was inspired. She has given everything to bounce back from the heartbreak she experienced last year, when her loss at Wimbledon was followed by defeat to Swiatek in the US Open final, and as the finish line neared, her spirit and her game soared. 

The decisive breakthrough came in the sixth game, where Sabalenka courageously fought off two break points with some huge serving only for a string of teasing slices from Jabeur to prise an error on a third. Jabeur would not look back. At 2-5, Sabalenka saved a match point with her 10th ace of the afternoon; one game later, Jabeur sealed victory with her third. After a difficult year and a difficult draw, the Tunisian stands on the brink of fulfilling a dream.

“I always believed,” said Jabeur. “Sometimes you would question and doubt if it’s going to happen, if it’s ever going to happen. Being in the last stages, I think it does help you believe more.  

“I’m going to learn a lot from not only [last year’s] Wimbledon’s final but also the US Open final, and give it my best. Maybe this year was all about trying two times and getting it right the third time.”

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For Marketa Vondrousova, merely to be playing tennis at all represents a triumph. At the age of 24, the gifted Czech southpaw has spent almost as much time in the rehabilitation room as she has on court. She has overcome long-term injury on three occasions, most recently in May last year, when she underwent surgery on her left wrist for the second time in four years.

A former junior world No 1 who was still a teenager when she reached her first grand slam final four years ago at Roland Garros, Vondrousova began this season uncertain that she would ever again recapture the form that once carried her to No 14 in the world. There was, therefore, undeniable romance in the 6-3, 6-3 victory over Elina Svitolina that earned the world No 42 a place in Saturday’s Wimbledon final, the first unseeded player to achieve that distinction in the open era.

“After everything I’ve been through, two surgeries, it’s not always easy to come back,” said Vondrousova. “You don’t know if you can play at this level and if you can be back at the top and back at these tournaments. I’m just grateful to be on a court again, to play without pain. I’m just really grateful for it.”

Yet for Svitolina, this was the cruellest of defeats. The war in her native Ukraine has infused the 28-year-old with a newfound sense of mission. After her dramatic quarter-final win over Iga Swiatek, the former world No 3 spoke movingly of how seeing videos of children following her matches in her war-torn homeland made her heart “melt”. Her unwavering support for her country, both on and off the court, has drawn universal admiration.

Svitolina’s place in the public affections has been cemented further by her remarkable achievements in the three months since she returned from maternity leave, which include a first title in almost two years in Strasbourg and a quarter-final run at Roland Garros. No champion would have been more popular.

But Svitolina, shouldering the hopes of a people for whom any scintilla of joy is precious at this time, was unable to reproduce the form that has carried her past four grand slam champions over the past 11 days. Hard though they tried, her Centre Court supporters were unable to lift her to victory. An error-strewn performance left the wild card overwrought with emotion.

“I got a lot of messages from different people, it’s unbelievable that they been there with me all the way,” said Svitolina, fighting back tears. “Hopefully they continue.

“For sure it’s a big motivation, but [also] it’s a lot of responsibility, a lot of tension. I try to balance it as much as I can.  

“Sometimes it gets maybe too much. But I don’t want to take it as an excuse that I lost today. I try to take it as a motivation for me. I just hope that Ukrainian people continue supporting me.”

That much is not in doubt. Determination was etched in Svitolina’s features throughout, but for all her redoubtable tenacity and fighting spirit, she could find no answer to Vondrousova’s extraordinary range and variety. The Czech, who combines a whippy forehand with a knifed sliced backhand, a difficult lefty serve and a drop shot that must surely be the envy of every woman on tour save Ons Jabeur, rarely gave Svitolina the same ball twice. Her rhythm-disrupting changes of pace, spin and trajectory drew 24 unforced errors from the Ukrainian while limiting her to a paltry nine winners.

After a sequence of three consecutive breaks, Vondrousova found herself in control of the first set at 4-3. That began a run of seven consecutive games for the Czech, whose confidence flowed as freely as her movement. One audacious running forehand, sliced viciously beyond the incoming Svitolina as she served to stay in the opener, drew a broad grin from Vondrousova. Another was struck with such sweet venom that Jan Kodes, the Czech men’s champion of 50 years ago, rose to his feet to applaud from his vantage point in the royal box.

Yet even as Vondrousova stood within two games of the final at a set and 4-0 to the good, it felt almost as though Svitolina had yet to start. A key element in the outstanding run that took her past Venus Williams, Sofia Kenin, Victoria Azarenka and Swiatek, with their combined tally of 14 majors, was a newfound readiness to take on her shots rather than rely on her skills as a counter-puncher. Only now, with the contest seemingly beyond her, did Svitolina begin to show that dimension of her game, breaking twice to get back on serve. It was not to last, Vondrousova holding her nerve to stem the tide and see out a famous victory.

“I should have found a better way to deal with Marketa’s game style,” said Svitolina. “She’s a very tricky opponent. She gets lots of balls back.

“I tried to fight back and just give everything out there, even though I didn’t play my best.”

As for Vondrousova, she will now face Jabeur, the sixth seed, who scored a 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-3 upset over Aryna Sabalenka, the Australian Open champion and world No 2. Vondrousova has played the Tunisian twice this year, winning both times.

“I feel like we’re the same in some things,” said Vondrousova. “We’re playing dropshots. We’re playing slice.”

Another area of common ground is that, on Saturday afternoon, one of them will become a grand slam champion for the first time. Once again, a fairy tale is guaranteed.

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If the Spanish world No 1 locks horns with Novak Djokovic on Sunday for a second time in two months, as the seedings suggest and most neutral observers hope, his first task will be to ensure there is no repeat of the crippling tension that hobbled his challenge at Roland Garros, where he was rendered lame by cramp. Holger Rune does not carry quite the same aura as Djokovic – few do – but the gifted Dane came up through the junior ranks with Alcaraz and, as the top seed acknowledged after his 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-4 victory, it is a matchup he finds challenging.

“For me, it’s not easy to play against someone that I’ve played so many times,” said Alcaraz of his contemporary. “When we were younger, we grew up together, same age. For me, [he] is not really easy to play against.”

That difficulty manifested itself in a first set laced with anxiety. There was a tightness about Alcaraz’s play; the signature moves were there, but the execution sometimes lacked its usual freedom and fluency. An overhit lob, which followed an overhit drop shot, was a case in point. That came in the opening game, bringing up a first break point for Rune. Alcaraz instantly snuffed out the danger with a 132mph serve, but the tone was set. 

Faced with an inviting second serve that might have yielded three break points, Alcaraz sent a return long. He began a service game with another overcooked drop shot and lob. Unforced errors, of which he would make a dozen in the opening set, proved costly, thwarting the Spaniard’s efforts after a blazing forehand return winner had carried him to 0-30. The Murcian’s frustration mounted, finally boiling over in a huge yell of distress and some animated chatter to his box when he sent a backhand wildly long in the eighth game. From the other end, Rune cast his rival a quizzical look.

Despite these lapses, the standard from both men remained exceptionally high. It was never likely to be otherwise in a first grand slam meeting between two of the game’s most luminous young talents. For that reason alone, the match was of course much than a mere dress rehearsal; for Alcaraz, in particular, it was freighted with significance, an opportunity to underline, lest there be any doubt, his pre-eminence among his own generation. 

The magnitude of the occasion was spelled out at the conclusion of the first-set tiebreak. The shootout began with an early mini-break for Alcaraz courtesy of a glorious backhand pass, jabbed crosscourt at an acute angle, that drew a broad smile from the Spaniard and a standing ovation from the Centre Court crowd. 

It did not take Rune long to get back on level terms, but at 3-3 the Danish sixth seed gifted the initiative to his rival with a double-fault, and this time the Spaniard made no mistake. Having worked his way to three set points, Alcaraz rifled a backhand return winner down the line and let out a prolonged, visceral roar that spoke of relief and release.

“It was nerves, tension, it was everything,” said Alcaraz. “The first set, it was really tough for me. A lot of nerves. I couldn’t control it at all. I was able to win the first set, the key to turn around a little bit my emotions.  

“It helped me a lot, that [was] huge after the first set to put out all the nerves and start to enjoy the moment, to enjoy the match. Smiling for me, as I said a few times, is the key of everything.”

For Alcaraz, this was nonetheless a day for steel rather than smiles. Alcaraz would make only one more unforced error in the entire match, exhibiting precisely the kind of ruthless efficiency that has become synonymous with Djokovic. It is a quality he will need if he is to thwart the defending champion’s attempt to win a record-equalling eighth title.

First, though, Alcaraz will need to negotiate a route past Daniil Medvedev, the third seed, who reached his first Wimbledon semi-final with a 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 victory over Christopher Eubanks of the United States. Alcaraz, who was comprehensively beaten by the Russian in the second round two years ago, will not want for belief.

“I’m playing great, a lot of confidence right now,” said the Spanaiard. “It’s going to be a really good match, I think.

“He’s a really complete player. I’m going to say – I think [Andrey] Rublev said it a few times – he’s an octopus. He catches every ball. It’s amazing, he’s an amazing athlete, I think a mix of everything. He does almost everything well.”

Increasingly, so does Alcaraz. It should be some match.

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At a Wimbledon where the women’s singles was widely billed as a tripartite battle for supremacy, Aryna Sabalenka, through to the semi-finals for the second time in three years after defeating Madison Keys of the United States 6-2, 6-4, is the last member of the “big three” left standing. 

The Belarusian second seed, unable to compete at the All England Club 12 months ago after Russian and Belarusian players were banned, will face Ons Jabeur after the Tunisian avenged her defeat to Elena Rybakina in last summer’s final with a 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-1 victory.

With top seed Iga Swiatek also out, beaten by Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, Sabalenka is the only remaining member of a trio who have won the last five majors between them. 

Should the 25-year-old thwart Jabeur’s tilt at a second successive final, she will achieve a yet more singular distinction, displacing Swiatek to claim the world No 1 ranking for the first time in her career. Like a first Wimbledon title, it would represent the fulfilment of a childhood dream. At this stage, though, Sabalenka refuses to entertain thoughts of either.

“I want both,” said Sabalenka, who won her first major title at the Australian Open this year. “But I’m trying to focus on myself, because I know if I start thinking about all this stuff, I’m going to lose my focus on court, my game. 

“So I’m trying to focus on myself right now and make sure that every time I’m on the court, I bring my best tennis. Then, later on, we’ll see if I’m ready to become world No 1 or if I’m ready to play another final.”

Sabalenka certainly brought her best tennis against Keys, who saw five of the first six games fly by in a blur of booming serves and pulverising groundstrokes. But the American world No 18, playing in her second Wimbledon quarter-final after reaching the same stage in 2015, began to dig her heels in. When Keys broke to lead 4-2, 40-0, a decider looked inevitable. 

“I was just kind of telling myself that it’s OK, we’re going to play a third set, that’s fine,” said Sabalenka.

There would be no third set. Instead, Sabalenka broke back immediately and saw out the win with aplomb. Yet the calmness with which she reconciled herself to the prospect of playing a deciding set for the second time in four matches, following an uneven second-round performance against Varvara Gracheva, offered further evidence of how successfully Sabalenka has tamed her previously combustible temperament.

She will need that serenity against Jabeur. Tunisia’s unofficial Minister of Happiness, who still finds last year’s final too painful to watch, went about the task of ending Rybakina’s Centre Court reign with a determination so grim that it almost made a mockery of her nickname. When she failed to serve out the opener at 6-5, finding the net with a backhand on set point before promptly handing Rybakina the initiative in the tiebreak with another error off the same wing, it looked likely to be another tale of what might have been for Jabeur. 

That impression deepened when the 28-year-old missed three break points early in the second set. Jabeur had been the better player for much of the contest, absorbing Rybakina’s pace and refusing to give ground on the baseline. But as the third seed began to land her first serve with increasingly regularity, the signs were ominous for Jabeur. The Kazakhstani expressed disappointment with her delivery afterwards, but in the second set she made more than two-thirds of her first serves, winning 70% of those points. It was redolent of her performance against Shelby Rogers in the opening round, where she dropped the first set only to cruise to victory once she had found her service rhythm. 

A year ago, Jabeur might have fought fire with finesse. This time around, she drew on a less familiar but no less effective area of her game: power. With Rybakina serving at 4-5, three mighty forehands brought up a pair of break points, the first of which Jabeur converted with a forceful backhand return. Jabeur finished the set with 13 winners to just three unforced errors. 

“I knew it was going to be a tough match,” said Rybakina. “I knew it’s a lot about physics for me, because she plays really good slices, she’s aggressive, the ball stays really low over the net. 

“I knew that I had to be there physically, well prepared, but I feel like it wasn’t the case today. Some moments I played really well, but I was not consistent.”

The tide was turning, and more was to follow in the decider, where Jabeur snatched an early break with some more heavy hitting. She did not look back. The two backhand piledrivers she fired down the line in the penultimate game will linger as long in the memory as any drop shot or dink. It was a long way from the artistry we have come to expect from Jabeur, but it was no less enjoyable for that. Her game is evolving, and perhaps our perception of it – and hers – needs to evolve too.

“I believe last year maybe I wasn’t ready to play this kind of match,” said Jabeur. “I think maybe today wasn’t that much fun. I was really hitting the ball. 

“Maybe I did few dropshots. It’s not the same as before. I was enjoying myself a lot. I was enjoying using her power and enjoying showing that I’m not one kind of a player that only mixes and does drop shots and slices. 

“If you want to hit hard, I’m here to hit as fast as I can. I did show that. Not only to the player, I showed [it] to myself, too.”

Whether she will want to demonstrate that quality to Sabalenka, who defeated her in the quarter-finals a couple of summers ago, is another matter. Taking on the world No 2 at her own game would seem imprudent, yet Jabeur’s appetite for retribution has not yet been sated.

“I’m going to prepare and take my revenge from two years ago,” said Jabeur, who believes facing Rybakina was perfect preparation. “I think I showed to myself that I can stand up against these players. 

“It’s a great proof for me to start the game and to be confident and to go 100%. Honestly, I have nothing to lose. I’m going to go play like the second and third set I played today.”

Stand by for fireworks.

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Nine months after giving birth to her daughter Skaï, and just three months after returning to the tour, Svitolina scored the biggest upset of the tournament so far, defeating Iga Swiatek, the top seed, 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 on an afternoon drenched with drama and emotion.

It was one of the most significant victories of Svitolina’s career, matching her best previous performances at the majors, which came when she reached the last four of Wimbledon and the US Open in 2019. Those runs came in very different circumstances. The 28-year-old former world No 3 was still a top-10 player back then, not a wildcard ranked 76th. There was peace in Odesa, the port city in southern Ukraine where she was born, and where her 85-year-old grandmother – with whom she speaks almost daily – still lives. As for marriage and motherhood, they were yet to come, her relationship with fellow player Gaël Monfils still in its early days.

 “I think war made me mentally stronger,” said Svitolina, reflecting on the altered landscape of her life. “Mentally I don’t take difficult situations as like a disaster, you know? There are worse things in life. I’m just calmer.  

“I think also, because I just started to play again, I have different pressures. Of course, I want to win. I have this motivation, like huge motivation, to come back to the top. But I think having a child, and war, made me a different person. I look at things a bit differently.”

She plays differently, too, as Swiatek discovered. Traditionally a counter-puncher who relies principally on her defensive skills and athleticism, Svitolina has added a more aggressive edge to her game since her comeback, most notably an increased willingness to take on a forehand that can be lethally effective. That weapon carried her to the French Open quarter-finals last month and served her well at the key moments here, not least during an astonishing first-set sequence in which she won 20 out of 22 points to cancel out a 5-3 lead for the Polish world No 1. 

“I think she played with more freedom and more guts,” said Swiatek, who broke twice in the early stages without ever managing to break away. 

“Sometimes she really just let go of her hand and she played really, really fast. I don’t know if she played like that before.

“She was changing rhythm so much in terms of playing these faster shots sometimes.”

Visibly stressed in the latter stages of the opening set, Swiatek initially appeared to benefit from a timely rain delay. The Pole sought the advice of her coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, while the roof was being closed, and also had a lengthy discussion with her mental coach, Daria Abramowicz. The 22-year-old returned to the fray a calmer figure, and once again seized an early break, capitalising on some sloppy play from Svitolina. 

History was to repeat itself, though, a combination of Svitolina’s enterprise and the Pole’s errors cancelling out the advantage, and the eventually needed all her resilience to cancel out a 4-1 deficit in the second-set tiebreak.

In the previous round, Swiatek performed a similar act of escapology late in the second set against Belinda Bencic, saving two match points. That was enough to see her home on that occasion, but there was no let-down from Svitolina, who stuck doggedly to her task all afternoon, never allowing Swiatek to establish the momentum on which she thrives. Some heavy returning from the Ukrainian in the third game of the decider gave her the platform for a break, and Swiatek’s mistakes did the rest. There would be no way back for the French and US Open champion, who finished the contest with a whopping 41 unforced errors.

“I didn’t feel today like I could play my best game,” said Swiatek. “But I gave my all in everything that I could do.

“It’s hard for me to point to one thing that failed exactly. I think Elina was just overall playing aggressively and giving it all in every shot.

“For sure I played some mistakes that I shouldn’t do. That’s why I lost. But she also put pressure on me.”

Yet nobody has felt more pressure at these championships than Svitolina, who knows that every win is also a small victory for her country. In Venus Williams, Sofia Kenin, Victoria Azarenka and Swiatek, she has beaten a quartet of grand slam champions, only the fourth player in the open era to achieve that distinction. Svitolina is doing all she can to raise funds and awareness for her embattled country off the court, but she also understands the value of whatever joy she can bring on it.

“I know that lots of people back in Ukraine are watching,” said Svitolina. “I’m happy I can bring a little happiness to their life. There were many videos on the internet where the kids are watching on their phones. This really makes my heart melt, seeing this. Just happy I could bring a little happiness to people of Ukraine.”

As for Swiatek, she leaves with a first Wimbledon quarter-final on her CV and a clear sense that she has made progress on her least favoured surface. Having previously struggled with her movement on grass, she has more closely resembled her usual dynamic self these past nine days. She has improved technically and tactically, serving with greater authority and showing a greater commitment to attack, and once she perfects the adjustments required to bring her forehand to bear with greater consistency, a title challenge will surely follow. For now, though, like just about everyone else, she will be cheering for Svitolina.

“I’ll root for her, especially because we like each other as people,” said Swiatek, whose unwavering support for Ukraine since the Russian invasion began has earned universal respect, not least from Svitolina, with whom she shared a touching embrace at the end. 

“I told her at the net that I hope she wins this tournament. You know how it is in tennis: it’s tough to win a grand slam. I know that for sure she wants it really bad.”

The same could be said for Jessica Pegula, the fourth seed, whose sixth grand slam quarter-final went the way of the previous five as she was undone 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 by Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic. 

Things began promisingly for Pegula when she claimed an early break, but slowly the American became entangled in here 24-year-old opponent’s rhythm-disrupting web of southpaw spins and drop shots. Having dropped the opening set, however, Pegula began to make headway, finding her range from the baseline and volleying with a smoothness and assurance befitting of a woman ranked third in the world in doubles.

By the time rain arrived, forcing a short delay while the roof was closed, Pegula was a break up in the decider and seemingly on course for a first major semi-final. But although she came within two points of a 5-1 lead, Vondrousova’s aggression down the stretch proved decisive.

“It sucks to lose that way, having the lead in the third,” said Pegula, who agreed with Vondrousova’s observation that the delay came at a perfect moment for the Czech.

“It definitely changed momentum, because I totally had the momentum going to serve that 4-1 game. I still had chances with the roof closed. She played solid. She literally didn’t miss for, like, the next five games.”

Vondrousova, who reached the French Open final four years ago but has been plagued by injury, revealed afterwards that a phone call to her husband during the delay helped to inspire her emotional victory.

“He just said, ‘Try to fight. You are playing good. You are playing a great match,’” said Vondrousova, the world No 42, who will now face Svitolina for a place in the final. 

“After the match point, I couldn’t believe it. We were playing [an] amazing match, she is a great player. I think everything just went on, and I just couldn’t hold the tears.”

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The defending champion completed a 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-4 victory over Hubert Hurkacz on Monday after play was suspended the previous evening with only two sets completed because of the tournament’s 11pm curfew.

Andy Murray encountered a similar situation during his second-round defeat to Stefanos Tsitsipas, when the players were forced off court just as the former champion was gathering a head of steam. Wary of the potential for disruption, Murray had specifically asked not to be given the third slot on Centre Court. He made his feelings plain following his five-set defeat by pointedly sharing an article calling on the club to scrap the 1.30pm starts that have been in place for the past two years.

Djokovic, who will play for a third successive day when he faces Andrey Rublev on Tuesday for a place in the semi-finals, also voiced concerns about late finishes last year, pointing out that completing the day’s play under a closed roof had effectively created an indoor tournament. The Serbian second seed doubled down on that stance following his win over Hurkacz, pointing out that the contest began in still, humid and slippery conditions under the Centre Court roof, and resumed in a blustery wind that made it difficult to establish a consistent rhythm on serve..

“I think so,” said Djokovic, when asked if the 1.30pm start should be re-evaluated. “I agree with that. Obviously curfew is probably something that is much more difficult to change, I understand, because of the community and the residential area we are in. 

“[But] I think the matches could be pushed at least to start at 12pm. I think it would make a difference.”

While play on No 1 Court begins at 1pm, matches on Centre Court were moved back half an hour in 2021, when a 20-minute break between matches was also introduced. The latter decision was undertaken with spectators in mind, the All England Club reasoning that such gaps allowed the crowd to take a break between matches and “experience the whole of the championships”.

Sally Bolton, the chief executive of the All England Club, reiterated that defence following the suspension of Djokovic’s match on Sunday, denying that the Wimbledon schedule is shaped by the demands of broadcasters eager to screen primetime entertainment. 

“Every year we look at everything, and we get feedback from all of our guest groups, from the player groups and from all of our stakeholders,” said Bolton. “As we always do, we will have a look at that beyond this year’s championships.  

“Historically, we’ve always started play on our show courts around early afternoon. And that’s very much about ensuring people have the opportunity to get on court, so as much as is possibly the case, we have full courts for when the players will come. That’s still absolutely our intention.  

“The other thing we think about carefully is the fact that when people buy tickets and come to Wimbledon, they want to experience a day at the championships. That involves seeing some play on outside courts, perhaps getting something to eat, getting some strawberries and cream, we understand that our guests want that whole day.

“The broadcasters are one of the stakeholders that we consult as we put together all of the plans for the Championships but no, they’re not having a direct input into start time on court,” added Bolton. 

“As far as the TV audience is concerned, matches are happening at a time when they’re accessible to people. We’re seeing viewing figures that are beyond our expectations and beyond previous years.”

Be that as it may, the impact of the tournament’s late starts on the players has been undeniable. Djokovic, who completed his third-round win over Stan Wawrinka under the Centre Court roof just 14 minutes before the curfew, emphasised his respect for Wimbledon’s continued observance of certain traditions while outlining some of the undertainties posed by the vagaries of the schedule.

“Once the time is over 8pm, you know that there’s a high probability you won’t finish your match,” said the seven-time champion. That was the case against Wawrinka and Hurkacz. Both of the matches started almost actually at 9pm. 

“I warmed up for both of those matches around 1pm, something like this. Should you go back to the accommodation, the house nearby, or should you stay? Yesterday I decided to stay. I stayed basically for seven hours waiting for my match to start.

“It’s tricky, especially if there are a lot of players and a lot of stuff, members of the respective players’ teams, and they all occupy spaces for rest. It’s not easy to find a corner where you can just be by yourself. 

“Wimbledon has been so attached, I would say connected, with its tradition and history in not changing certain things, which I respect a lot. I think there are wonderful things to keep with history, like the defending champion going out on the first day.

“There are different ways that I’m sure they will address this issue and try to avoid having these kind of problems in the future.”

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