Alcaraz defends his Wimbledon title and captures the Channel Slam.
Carlos Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic 6-2 6-2 7-6 in a repeat of last year`s final in the all-England club in a convincing manner, it had a similar ending but a different narrative unlike the five-set thriller played out last year. understandably Djokovic was not at his most ruthless and efficient best as a result of a knee surgery last month, age was also a factor, he is increasingly fighting against time, he was 37 years in May. the oldest player in the top 30, with Monfils and Fognini the other of his age mates in the top 100.
Rosewall won the Australian open at his age becoming the oldest champion but against Alcaraz this was always going to be mission impossible, last year`s final gave a hint of what the Spaniard was made off, from losing the French open semi against the Serb with body cramps because of anxiety and pressure to overcoming statistically the greatest tennis player in history. In Alcaraz`s assessment of his illustrious opponent he stated
“As far as numbers go, it’s Novak Djokovic without a doubt,” Alcaraz said. “The other two: Federer and Rafa. For me, they’re tops.” during an interview with the ATP Tour
other expert verdicts had him as the greatest and this was the hurdle he overcame mentally last year at Roland Garros to enable him to compete and win at Wimbledon last year, as at the 2nd set during the tie break he was 1-6 6-6(0-3), and found a way back to come back and win 8-6, such was his indomitable mindset that he was able to overcome these impossibilities, most will decline and return to obscurity not Alcaraz, the only member of the present tennis elite that have faced Djokovic fire for fire consistently, any surprises that he has such impressive milestones;
The first teenager and youngest ever end of year number one ranked male player.
The youngest to win the French and Wimbledon titles (Channel Slam).
The youngest to win all the majors in all the surfaces-clay, grass and hard.
The first teenager to defeat Nadal on clay.
The youngest to win four majors.
After the winning the toss and having the right to choose between serving or receiving he choose the latter with the former usually the popular choice among players and broke Djokovic in the first game, he repeated the sequence in the second set by breaking again in the first game it was a repeat of the first set score of 6-2 in both sets and at two sets to love it was impossible even for a champion as accomplished as Djokovic. Alcaraz was not just an ordinary champion even when he squandered 3 championship points serving at 5-4 in the third set it was a question of when it will be over. he duly answered by winning the tie break 7-4 he never panicked even when dropping serve which led him to surrender a 3-1 lead. Djokovic was very gracious in defeat and credit to him for even reaching the finals despite his setback (Alcaraz won the French open and Djokovic did not play his quarter final against Ruud as a result of injury and was not fully prepared for the grass court season). The number one ranking still belongs to Jannik Sinner and it is fair to state that the battle for the year end top position will be between these two young pacesetters. any surprises will be rare both have acquainted themselves fully to compete at the highest level.
As at the fourth week in July, Alcaraz is in the third position
ATP RANKING
1.Sinner 9570
2.Djokovic 8460
3.Alcaraz 8130y
He has been able to defend a major which has not been achieved by anyone apart from the so called big 3 of Federer,Nadal and Djokovic, since 2000/2001 French Open back-to-back titles won by the Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten.he has surpassed Murray, Wawrinka and Kuerten`s three majors and Hewitt and Safin`s two. he is equal with Vilas and Courier and slightly behind the 6 majors won by Edberg and Becker in the open era of tennis. he has spent 36 weeks as number one and according to him “At the end of my career, I want to sit at the same table as the big guys. That’s my main goal,” he said. “That’s my dream right now. It doesn’t matter if I already won four Grand Slams at the age of 21.”If I’m not keeping going, all these tournaments for me, it doesn’t matter. “He has great ambitions of breaking records most which is held by Djokovic. He can also become the first man since Laver to hold all the four majors in the same year. for a man that started acquiring titles so early this is possible only if he maintains such consistency and an extraordinary player does not surface and also, if he can stay healthy. His time at the top has enabled him surpass Wilander-20, Medvedev-16, Roddick-13, Becker-12, Safin-9 and his coach Ferrero-8 and he is behind Murray-41 and Kuerten-43, he needs just four weeks to equal Nastase, if he can reach Hewitt`s 80 weeks then he will break into the top ten. where 3 players Agassi, Borg and McEnroe have at least more than 100 weeks and four players Nadal,Connors,Lendl and Sampras have more than 200 weeks Federer has 310 weeks and the King Djokovic with 428 weeks. the Serb is also the leader in the number of majors won with 24 and masters accumulated with 40, Alcaraz has 5 same number with Roddick,Safin,Kuerten, Becker, Courier and Rios with his direct rivals Zverev and Medvedev with 6 and seven other players between him and Djokovic.So far his head-to-head record against Djokovic in competitive matches stands at 3-3 he leads at majors 2-1. he has the motivation and the talent, tennis fans and sports enthusiasts can only sit back, watch and enjoy his career even if it stops now, it has been a great achievement by the Spaniard.
