Carlos Alcaraz’s Wimbledon win saw him achieve amazing feat that eluded Djokovic, Nadal and Federer
Carlos Alcaraz collected the latest title of his remarkable career so far by earning a statement victory over Novak Djokovic to defend his Wimbledon crown.
The world No 3 delivered an outstanding display on Centre Court to clinch a 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4) win against Djokovic in the 2024 Wimbledon Championship match.
Alcaraz‘s triumph saw him defend a Grand Slam title for the first time and it improved his perfect record in Major finals to 4-0.
The Spaniard became the youngest player to attain the ATP world No 1 ranking after winning his maiden Grand Slam at the 2022 US Open at the age of 19.
The 21-year-old’s victory at Roland Garros last month made him the youngest man to win a Major on all three surfaces.
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As well as beating world No 2 Djokovic at Wimbledon this year, Alcaraz overcame fifth-ranked Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals.
These two wins mean Alcaraz has become the only player to earn multiple victories over opponents ranked in the top five on grass, clay and hard courts in consecutive seasons (since the ATP Rankings were introduced in 1973).
The Spaniard’s clay-court top five wins this year came at Roland Garros against Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev, who were ranked second and fourth at the time.
Alcaraz’s two hard-court triumphs over top five players so far in 2024 were in Indian Wells against a third-ranked Sinner and a fourth-ranked Medvedev.
Tennis legend John McEnroe is the only other player to achieve the feat in a single year, having done so in his superb 1984 campaign.
Alcaraz’s serve surprised Djokovic in Wimbledon final
Following the Wimbledon title match, Djokovic highlighted Alcaraz’s serving performance as an area of the Spaniard’s performance that surprised him.
“Honestly, I don’t think I could have made a tactical choice that would have changed the outcome of the match,” the 24-time Grand Slam winner told the media.
“You can always analyse the match, of course, afterwards and say, I could have done this or that. But overall, what I felt on the court today against him was that I was inferior.
“That’s all I felt. He was a better player. He played every shot better than I did. So I don’t think I could have done anything more, you know, try to motivate myself maybe. Get the audience involved. I mean, it was what happened in the third set, that spurred me on a bit.
“But he wasn’t allowing me to get free points on my serve either. He read my serves. He played with a lot of variety.
“I’d never seen him serve like that, to be honest. I mean, 136mph. Maybe I missed something in this tournament, but I’ve never seen him serve that fast.
“He must have had a very good service practice day yesterday. But overall, he really outplayed me.”
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