After the semi-final win over Daniil Medvedev, Carlos Alcaraz answered in an interview on the pitch: "Saturday will be an exciting day for Spain". The audience at Center Court in Wimbledon famously shouted...
The Spaniard was forced to quickly say: I said Spain did not win. I just said Sunday would be an interesting day.
That Sunday, in the end, was a real treat for Spaniards. Because before their men's football team won EURO 2024 with a 2-1 victory over England, Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic in the 2024 Wimbledon final.
Alcaraz vs Djokovic certainly promises a classic final, after they clashed in the final at the All England Club exactly a year ago with a 5-set match. However, unfortunately for the fans, this was a "blatant" victory without any drama.
The ATP's homepage wrote: "If Alcaraz's 5-set victory over Djokovic in 2023 was a grand moment for him to enjoy his first taste of glory at the All England Club, then Sunday's encounter was largely like a teenage rally straight to the top of Wimbledon.
Alcaraz has overwhelmed the seven-time champion Djokovic, who has impressed throughout his run to the final after undergoing knee surgery just last month, since his opening match at the Center.
It is difficult to use Djokovic's surgery and injury as an excuse for his inferiority in this match. For simple reason, Alcaraz was better in this match.
In Djokovic's first serve game, Alcaraz shook the Serbian legend. After a long game, to have a chance to break after 5 times, the Spaniard successfully broke the 37-year-old opponent's hand.
In set 1, the gap to 5-1 was clearly unbelievable, but that was the truth, when Alcaraz broke another game in set 1, before creating the first advantage with a score of 6-2.
Waiting for a reaction in set 2 becomes hopeless when the scenario repeats 99% of set 1, when Alcaraz has a break in the first game and then once again in game 7 (set 1 is game 5).
2 sets of increase in just 74 minutes. Dramatic anticipation came in the third set, when the two players drew the score to 4-4. Alcaraz broke the curse in game 9 to get ahead, then led 40-0 in the curling game.
With three championship-points, it seems the 21-year-old Spaniard's laxity has helped Djokovic come back, break and tie the score at 5-5.
Set 3 then had to enter the tie-break, where Alcaraz had 2 mini-breaks to win 7-4, ending the match after 3 sets with 2 hours and 27 minutes. Fans may have waited for a longer final match, possibly even until the time of the EURO 2024 final.
Having successfully defended his Wimbledon title, Alcaraz became only the second player in the Open era to win all four of his first Grand Slam finals in his career (Roger Federer won seven).
