Is Novak Djokovic’s era of dominance over after sensational Wimbledon defeat?

Have we just witnessed the end of the greatest era in the history of tennis?

Novak Djokovic’s defeat against Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday’s sensational Wimbledon final felt a little like Roger Federer’s slaying of Pete Sampras on the same court back in 2001, which signaled the beginning of the end of the great American’s reign at Wimbledon.

It also had similarities to Rafael Nadal’s defeat of Federer in the greatest Wimbledon final of them all back in 2008, when the great Spaniard beat the Swiss maestro on the court he had made his own.

Now it is another young Spaniard halting the last of the ‘Big Three’ in their mission to re-write the history books, with Alcaraz succeeding where all before him have failed as he became the first of the next generation to beat one of the giants of the sport in a Grand Slam final.

We have had fleeting interruptions to the dominance of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic from the likes of Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic, but Alcaraz is a very different beast.

He has looked like the future of tennis for a long time and in his first Wimbledon final, he confirmed his time may have already come at the age of 20.

Time and again Alcaraz was challenged by the great Djokovic over the course of five incredible sets on Centre Court that were played out over four hours and 43 minutes and produced breathless tennis from first to last.

Who would have backed Alcaraz to win when he was 5-0 in a first set that appeared to pave the way for Djokovic’s record-equalling eighth Wimbledon title?

Then it looked like Djokovic would take command of the final as he was a point away from winning the second set, yet Alcaraz is different from the other rivals who have tried and failed to knock him off his perch.

“I thought I would have trouble with you only on clay and hard court, but not on grass but now it’s a different story from this year obviously,” conceded Djokovic in a post-match speech that was temporarily interrupted when he locked eyes with his son Stefan and broke down in tears in front of the Centre Court crowd.

He recomposed himself before adding: “Congrats, amazing way to adapt to the surface. You played maybe one or twice. Amazing, what you did in Queens and congratulations to everybody in your team.”

It was a classy contribution from an outgoing champion who was warned by Irish umpire Fergus Murphy for smashing his racket on the Centre Court net post and had yet more clashes with the spectators on the showpiece court.

Djokovic is clearly convinced the Wimbledon audiences are determined to undermine his efforts to march toward history, but ‘Nole, Nole, Nole’ rang out on several occasions during the final against Alcaraz.

So while there is no doubt the majority of the Wimbledon crowd will have been pleased to see him defeated, Djokovic fans were in evidence in large numbers on this occasion.

History tells us the vulnerabilities he showed in his post-match interview when he broke down in tears when addressing his young son Stefan will also have won him a few new friends.

In addition, the grace Djokovic showed as he congratulated Alcaraz on his victory confirmed he has mastered the art of accepting defeat outwardly, even if he is bleeding inside.

Now we wait to see the reaction from Djokovic – and expect it to be fierce.

This tennis icon will not accept his days as a champion are over or that world No 1 Alcaraz is the new king of tennis.

Instead, the 36-year-old will be eyeing up his return to America next month as a chance to remind the world that there is so much more left for him to win.

Alcaraz may have won this battle and he is the future of men’s tennis – but he needs to beat Djokovic a few more times to confirm he has knocked him off his perch for good.

READ MORE: Carlos Alcaraz knocks Novak Djokovic off his perch at Wimbledon with epic final win