Novak Djokovic was gracious in defeat and even had time for jokes with Carlos Alcaraz following their Wimbledon final match.
Alcaraz won his first Wimbledon title following a hard-fought 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Djokovic in the final at the All-England Club on Sunday.
It was an impressive achievement in more ways than one.
For starters, it was Alcaraz's second Grand Slam title at the age of 20. He did it by beating Djokovic of all people, who he now has a 2-1 head-to-head lead over.
He also became the first player to beat the Serbian superstar on Centre Court at Wimbledon since 2013. But perhaps, most impressively of all, it was just his fourth professional tournament on grass.
The Spaniard had struggled on grass prior and although he did win the Queen's Club Championships prior to Wimbledon — which moved him back up to No. 1 in the ATP rankings — not many had him winning at SW19 and beating a player of Djokovic's calibre on the surface.
And yet, here we are with Alcaraz proving he's not only the real deal, but can be a major problem on grass as well. This was acknowledged by Djokovic in his post-match interview as well.
“I thought I'll have trouble with you only on clay and maybe hard court, not on grass,” Djokovic said (via The Tennis Podcast). “But now it's a different story, obviously!”
It's bad news for Novak Djokovic, but it's great news for tennis fans who have been eager to see the dominance of the Big Three finally come to an end.