A year ago, Carlos Alcaraz overcame Novak Djokovic in five hard-fought sets to win his first Wimbledon championship. This time around, despite the exact same opponent and venue, Alcaraz dominated the former No. 1 to capture his second consecutive Wimbledon title in straight sets.
Last year, Alcaraz was put on the back foot and had to fight from behind after Djokovic cruised to take the first set 6-1. Today, the roles were reversed as Alcaraz won the first set 6-2. But unlike last year's event, there was no comeback; Alcaraz won the second set 6-2 as well and withstood a last-gap effort by Djokovic to win the third and final set 7-6 in a tiebreak.
The championship victory marks Alcaraz's fourth grand slam title; the young Spaniard won his first grand slam in 2022 at the US Open before his Wimbledon win against Djokovic last year. Earlier this year, Alcaraz defeated Alexander Zverev in five sets to win the French Open and claim a grand slam on each of the three surfaces. Today's win also opens up the possibility that Alcaraz finishes the year by winning three of four grand slams; the US Open, the final grand slam tournament, is about six weeks away.
Alcaraz after Wimbledon win: “I've already done my job”
Carlos Alcaraz is quickly growing his legend in tennis. A four-time grand slam champion, with two final wins coming against Novak Djokovic, has seemingly created the next big star in men's tennis.
But Alcaraz, like many in Europe, will be anxiously awaiting the result of another big game today: the Euros final between England and Alcaraz's home country of Spain. A native of Villena in eastern Spain, Alcaraz had mentioned the final following his semifinal victory over Daniil Medvedev.
“It is going to be a really good day for Spanish people as well with the Euro Cup,” Alcaraz said on Friday, which elicited boos that made Alcaraz start laughing. “I didn't say Spain is going to win,” Alcaraz continued. “I am just saying that it is going to be a really fun day.”
Today, after his win against Djokovic, Alcaraz was asked again about the final, which is set to kick off in just a few hours.
“I've already done my job, so let's see…” Alcaraz said to a big reaction from the Wimbledon crowd.
Whether Spain sweeps the big sporting events today, Alcaraz truly has done his job. The Spanish star had some rough patches along the way to a second Wimbledon title; after tough straight-sets wins over Mark Lajal and Aleksandar Vukic in the first two rounds, Alcaraz faced a stiff challenge from American Francis Tiafoe in the third round.
Tiafoe took the first set 7-5 before trading the next two sets to put Alcaraz in danger of being eliminated before the Round of 16. Alcaraz managed to survive and win the fourth set in a tiebreak before dominating the final set to escape an upset loss. Alcaraz had a much less dramatic time beating Ugo Humbert in the next round before emerging victorious against another American, Tommy Paul, despite Paul winning the opening set.
To qualify for today's final, Alcaraz had to come from behind against Medvedev, who won the first set of the semifinal in a tiebreak. Alcaraz, like he did throughout the tournament, recovered well and won the next three sets 6-3, 6-4, and 6-4.
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