Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz won his second consecutive title at Wimbledon this Sunday, July 14, beating Serbian Novak Djokovic in the final (6-2, 6-2, 7-6). [7/4]), already his opponent last year. He wins his fourth Grand Slam trophy at just 21 years old, after his victories at the US Open 2022, Wimbledon 2023 and Roland-Garros 2024.
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Unlike the 2023 final where the two men engaged in a titanic arm wrestling match, there was almost no match this year at Wimbledon. Only Djokovic’s pedigree could suggest that a turnaround was possible, even if very unlikely.
As proof of Alcaraz’s astonishing dominance, the 21-year-old prodigy took just 2 hours and 27 minutes to beat one of the best grass-court players in history – only Federer has won more matches on grass than Djokovic – and at the same time inflict one of his worst defeats in a Grand Slam final.
The Serb was powerless as rarely before: Alcaraz was too fast, too powerful, too subtle. Returns, passing shots, drop shots, counter drop shots, volleys, serves, backhand shots… The Murcian deployed his astonishing range of shots and Djokovic saw it all.
In the first set, after a very long first game of a quarter of an hour on Djokovic’s serve, Alcaraz broke right away. The Serb, in difficulty on his first serve, was clearly dominated and conceded a double break on a double fault to allow the Spaniard to break away 4-1 then 5-1. In the game, Alcaraz was superior, forcing his opponent to play difficult low backhand volleys when he tried to volley and opening up the court to place his enormous forehand long down the line.
A tie break to postpone the inevitable
The second set started like the first, with a break from Alcaraz while Djokovic seemed without a solution to the Spaniard’s total tennis. And as in the first set, Djokovic was completely overwhelmed, conceding his serve a second time and losing the set without ever giving the impression of being able to derail the Alcaraz racing car.
Djokovic finally won his first serve in the third set and even led 30/0 on Alcaraz’s serve. But the Spaniard equalized by taking advantage of a false bounce on his last serve. No luck, however, on the next point where he pierced Djokovic with a hypersonic forehand. After four break points, the Serb kept his serve but his self-denial was more like survival than a real tendency to reverse the course of events.
At 4-4, Alcaraz managed the break thanks in particular to three winners. He served for the match and had three tournament points at 40/0… but Djokovic equalized by taking advantage in particular of a missed penalty volley. In the process, he unbroken and the two men reached the tie breakan exercise in which Djokovic is a master. But this time, it was the Spaniard who dictated his law.
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