Spanish Tennis prodigy Carlos Alcaraz came back from a set down to beat the mighty Novak Djokovic in a five-set thriller, and in doing so, proved his credentials as the player to take the sport forward in the future.
Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 to win his first-ever Wimbledon title, ending his four-year reign on the title as the All England Club will have a new member, for the first time in five tournaments.
Novak Djokovic, chasing a record 24th Grand Slam, against Carlos Alcaraz, fighting forZ just his second Grand Slam title, were facing off for the first time since the Serbian beat Alcaraz in the French Open semi-final, and after the first set, many might be forgiven for thinking that the previous encounter between the two was definitely on Alcaraz's mind.
But the Spaniard kept his cool against his much, much older opponent, as was displaying in the fifth game of the third set. The game saw a total of seven break points on Djokovic's service, while the match went to deuce 13 times. The end of this tennis marathon was Alcaraz, as the game lasted 26 minutes and 2 seconds. After this, Djokovic could not return back into the set and lost it set 1-6, losing the service for a third time.
After his miraculous victory, we look at some of the big records downed by the young tennis star after an impressive final performance:
1. Carlos Alcaraz becomes the 3rd Spanish player in history to win the Wimbledon men’s singles title – after Manuel Santana, who won the title here in 1966, and Rafael Nadal, who won the title here in 2008 and 2010.
2. Carlos Alcaraz becomes the 5th Spanish player in history to win a Wimbledon singles title – after Santana, Nadal, Conchita Martinez (who won the women’s singles title 1994) and Garbine Muguruza (who won the women’s singles title 2017).
3. Carlos Alcaraz becomes the 3rd-youngest player in the Open Era to win the Wimbledon men’s singles title – after Boris Becker (17 and 18) and Bjorn Borg (20).
4. Carlos Alcaraz won his 2nd Grand Slam title on his 2nd Grand Slam appearance since winning his first. He is now equals the Open Era record for fewest attempts before winning a 2nd Grand Slam men’s singles title.
5. Carlos Alcaraz becomes the 8th man in the Open Era to win the titles at Queen’s and Wimbledon in the same year.
6. Carlos Alcaraz is the first player to defeat Novak Djokovic in Wimbledon since Tomas Berdych in quarter-finals 2017, 2195 days ago by retirement.
7. Carlos Alcaraz is the second to defeat Novak Djokovic in a five-set Grand Slam final after Andy Murray at the US Open 2012.
8. Carlos Alcaraz is the third youngest player in the last 40 years to win 6+ titles in a single season, older only than Andre Agassi in 1988 and Rafael Nadal in 2005.
9. Carlos Alcaraz is the first player to defeat three top-10 opponents en route to secure the Men’s Singles title at the Championships since Pete Sampras in 1994.
