Dominant Alcaraz blows away Djokovic to retain Wimbledon title – Newspaper

LONDON: Carlos Alcaraz produced an utterly ruthless performance to dismantle seven-time champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets in a rematch of last year’s Wimbledon final to successfully defend his title on Sunday.

In a brutal statement that the new era of men’s tennis has arrived, the Spanish third seed produced a performance combining awesome power with delicate touch to win 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4), collecting the fourth Grand Slam of his young career.

Alcaraz has a perfect record in major finals, after his two Wimbledon triumphs, his US Open victory in 2022 and his French Open win last month.

He equals the Open Era record for most Grand Slams won at the age 21 or under, joining Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg and Mats Wilander.

Defeat denied Djokovic a 25th Grand Slam title to surpass Margaret Court in the all-time list and also equal Swiss Roger Federer’s haul of eight men’s singles titles at Wimbledon.

Djokovic, 37, who had knee surgery just weeks ago, he had no answers in the Centre Court sunshine as the electric Alcaraz pounded him from the back of the court and treated the crowd to an array of his trademark drop shots.

“It’s a dream for me, winning this trophy,” said Alcaraz, who became the ninth man to retain his Wimbledon title in the professional era.

“In an interview when I was 11 or 12 I said my dream was to win Wimbledon, so I’m replaying my dream. I want to keep going but it’s a great feeling to play in this beautiful court and to lift this amazing trophy. This is the most beautiful tournament, most beautiful court and most beautiful trophy.”

Victory made him the sixth man in the professional era to claim the Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles in the same year, joining Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Rafa Nadal, Federer and Djokovic.

“It’s a huge honour for me to be part of those players who have achieved Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year. They are huge champions,” Alcaraz said. “I don’t consider myself as a champion yet, not like them, but I’ll keep going to build my path, my journey.”

Alcaraz paid tribute to his beaten opponent, who only found his range in the third set.

“Djokovic is an unbelievable fighter, I knew he was going to have his chances,” said Alcaraz who had needed five sets to defeat the Serb in the 2023 final. “It was difficult but I tried to stay calm going into the tie-break and tried to play my best tennis. I was glad at the end I could find the solutions.”

Alcaraz pounced on his fifth break point in a tight first game that lasted 14 minutes as Djokovic’s usually impenetrable defence was breached early. The 21-year-old dropped the hammer from there and powered through the first set on the back of some solid serving, leaving Djokovic with a mountain to climb.

Second seed Djokovic came under more pressure at the start of the next set as Alcaraz bullied him in the early exchanges to break and capitalised on his service woes for an imposing two-set lead. Djokovic and Alcaraz went toe-to-toe until 4-4 in the third set before the Spaniard broke with a big backhand winner to take a 5-4 lead, as the Centre Court crowd sensed an early finish. However, despite racing to 40-0 with some sublime tennis, he squandered three match points and dropped serve as fans rose to their feet to egg Djokovic on.

There was to be no comeback, however, as Alcaraz tamed his nerves to clinch victory in the tiebreak around 20 minutes later when Djokovic crashed a return into the net.

Djokovic, still without a title this year, will now turn his attention to the Paris Olympics as he seeks to win gold for the first time.

“Obviously it’s not the result I wanted and especially in the first couple of sets, the level of tennis wasn’t up to par from my side,” Djokovic said. “But credit to Carlos for playing some complete tennis. From the back of the court, on serve, he had it all today. I tried to push him and saved the three match points, extended the match a little bit, but it wasn’t meant to be really. He was an absolutely deserved winner today. Congratulations to him for amazing tennis.”

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2024