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Carlos Alcaraz wiped the floor with Novak Djokovic in a one-sided Wimbledon final to land a second straight title at the All England Club on Sunday.
Alcaraz now has four Grand Slams and a perfect record in major finals. The 21-year-old Spaniard has won back-to-back Wimbledon titles, the 2022 US Open and last month secured his first French Open crown.
Djokovic has been wearing a knee support all fortnight having had surgery on a torn meniscus 39 days ago and despite saving three championship points to break back in the third set it was Alcaraz who edged the tie-break to seal a stunning 6-2 6-2 7-6 (7-4) victory.
Alcaraz becomes just the second man in the Open Era after Roger Federer to win his first four Grand Slam finals, while he has outdone the great Swiss, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal by reaching that landmark before his 22nd birthday.
With Jannik Sinner having won the Australian Open and Alcaraz going back-to-back at the French Open and here, it finally appears that men’s tennis belongs to the new generation.
Djokovic, meanwhile, is still agonisingly short of an all-time record 25th Grand Slam singles title, and remains one short of Federer’s tally of eight Wimbledon crowns.
How Alcaraz successfully defended his Wimbledon title…
The match began in dramatic fashion with a 13-minute first game during which Djokovic saved four break points before sending a forehand wide on Alcaraz’s fifth chance.
If the crowd, including the Princess of Wales and Princess Charlotte watching from the Royal Box, had hoped that would set the tone for another close match, they were to be quickly disabused of that notion.
Alcaraz was simply playing at a different speed to his opponent, his forehand too hot to handle for the Serb, who betrayed a lack of confidence in his ability to live with his young opponent from the back of the court by repeatedly rushing to the net.
He was winning only a third of the points there, though, dropping serve again on a double fault after Alcaraz had sent down a serve at 136 miles per hour, his fastest of the tournament.
And the Spaniard was not about to be distracted by a shout of ‘Come on England’ as he served for the opening set.
Alcaraz’s dominance continued in the second set, the 21-year-old breaking Djokovic in the opening game then again at 4-2 when – for the second time in the match – the secen-time champion double-faulted on break point.
He needed something to spark him into life and it came in the third game of the third set when he saved four break points, yelling as he walked back to his chair.
Djokovic has been the villain of the Wimbledon crowd again this tournament but here they were chanting his name, willing the classic match they had expected to break out.
He had a chance to move ahead at 3-2 but it was snatched away with an Alcaraz serve, and it seemed all but over when the second seed played a stunning game to break at 4-4.
Moments later Alcaraz was up 40-0 with three match points, but he froze dramatically at the finish line, serving a double fault and making a succession of errors – one after an ill-timed scream from a woman in the crowd – to allow Djokovic to break back.
Alcaraz steadied himself, though, and completed the job in the tie-break to successfully defend a Slam crown for the first time.
Djokovic said: “Obviously not the result I wanted, especially the first couple of sets wasn’t up to par from my side, but credit to Carlos for playing some amazing tennis.
“I tried to push him, I saved three match points and tried to extend the match but it wasn’t to be. He is a deserved winner.
“I have to be very proud. There’s a bit of disappointment right now but when I reflect on the last couple of weeks, and the last four to five weeks and what I’ve been through, I have to say I’m very satisfied.”
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