Carlos Alcaraz beats Novak Djokovic to win Wimbledon title in a change of guard epic battle

A new King has been crowned at Croquet Club, The long reigning sit-tight king of Wimbledon has been dethroned. The new king is here, and his name is Carlos Alcaraz.

Over the past few years of men’s tennis, as his great rivals have retreated from view, Novak Djokovic has spent his time destroying the hopes and dreams of nearly all younger challengers at the major tournaments. Not only has continued to hold off the next generation, but he has relished his supremacy over them.

A month after his body crumbled under the sheer tension of facing Djokovic at a major, Alcaraz recovered from a set deficit to perform at a remarkable level for five sets as he toppled Djokovic 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 to win his first Wimbledon title.

This was such an important moment for the game. Alcaraz had already shown himself to be the best young player to emerge since the Big Four were young men some two decades ago.

But we needed the baton to be handed over. We needed Alcaraz to stand up and take on one of the old guard at their very best, and thus to show that he isn’t merely inheriting his No 1 ranking through the passing of time.

To lift his first Wimbledon title, Alcaraz had to overcome a myriad of statistics as well as the greatest player in the history of the game. Djokovic had not lost on this court for a decade. And he had not lost a five-setter at Wimbledon since 2006, when Alcaraz was just a three-year-old boy still learning how to hold a racket.

It was a victory that took every ounce of self belief and determination from Alcaraz along with sustained shot making of the highest quality while performing at a level of intensity he has never experienced across best of five sets. The two best players in the world imposed relentless pressure on each other until the end, yet Alcaraz had the fortitude to see it out.

His victory at Queen’s was only his third-ever tournament on grass. He almost lost in the first round, but by the end of the week he was saying: “Right now, I feel like I’ve played 10 years on grass.”, he has blitzed the entire field, learning with every match as he has established a 12 match winning streak across Queen’s and Wimbledon. Alcaraz is the first player to beat Djokovic on Centre Court in a full decade, since Andy Murray in the 2013 final.

At 20 years old, Alcaraz is the third youngest player to win the Wimbledon men’s singles title, behind only Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg. His second grand slam title means he is the first new male player to win multiple major titles since Stan Wawrinka in 2015. By halting Djokovic’s four-year dominance at Wimbledon, he has denied the Serb the chance of equalling Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon titles.

While Djokovic sometimes starts slowly, he was sharp from the beginning, returning spectacularly well, refusing to offer up any mistakes and deflecting Alcaraz’s enormous forehands to within inches of the baseline. As Alcaraz struggled with his timing, he quickly found himself down 5-0 lead as Djokovic closed off a near perfect set with just two unforced errors.

To recover from that setback, Alcaraz had to manage his energies brilliantly over 4hr 42min of tennis. He was up against the ultimate expert on this front in Djokovic, who played extremely slowly between points and also took a 7½-minute bathroom break at the end of the third set.

Djokovic suddenly looked visibly frazzled as his had uncharacteristic unforced errors, argued with the umpire over the shot clock and gesturing to the crowd, maybe to feed from its negative energy. Alcaraz continued to impose sustained pressure, at 3-1 an insane 27 minute game with 13 deuces and seven break points ended in Alcaraz snatching a decisive double break en route to a two sets to one lead.

But there are no certainties against Djokovic, as he has proved time and again over the last couple of decades.

Even at two sets to one, even after the psychological impact of that never-ending game – the longest ever played in a Wimbledon men’s final, and the second-longest in the history of the men’s singles here – most seasoned Djokovic watchers would only have given Alcaraz an even-money shot.

A mentality monster as he is, Djokovic turned the momentum back again to claim the fourth set. Many 20-year-olds would have folded at this moment. A 5 setter against the 7-time Wimbledon champion on his favorite tuff is surely enough achievement, instead Alcaraz produced a miraculous series of points to break in the third game of the decider, landing a backhand drive up the line to move 2-1 ahead.

Walking to his chair, Djokovic slammed his racket into the net post so hard that he was then flapping his wrist back and forward for several minutes, trying to stop the tendons jangling.

Against arguably the best returner of all time, Alcaraz found big serves and enormous forehands whenever he needed them. Then he lined up to the baseline at 5-4 and without any visible hint of fear or nerves, Alcaraz served out the match of his life.

The pressure on Alcaraz was mind-boggling. His opponent was utterly plugged in, clearly never going to miss a ball. What did we see but two impossible winners – one a dropshot-lob combination and the second a volley at full stretch – to get ahead of the count for 30-15.

Djokovic fought back, but Alcaraz finished the job with a big serve and a forehand approach. He then collapsed, to celebrate the most epochal result that tennis has seen for years and what surely now seems like a Change of Guard.