Wimbledon 2024: Carlos Alcaraz Defends Title With Win Over Novak Djokovic

Carlos Alcaraz successfully defended his Wimbledon title with a largely one-sided 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 victory over Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic was aiming to solidify his status as the greatest of all time by clinching his 25th Grand Slam title and eighth Wimbledon victory against a contender vying to be the best of the new generation.

Jannik Sinner will remain No.1 but, between him and Alcaraz, the top of this new era holds the first three grand slam trophies of the year.

Djokovic, meanwhile, faces the very real threat of only a second season in the past 14 without at least one grand slam title.

He appeared out of sorts from the beginning, finding it challenging to respond to Alcaraz’s aggressive play. He only truly found his rhythm in the third.

He managed to avoid the embarrassment of achieving his lowest number of games won in a grand slam final by three match points in the third to push for a tiebreak. Meanwhile, his opponent has now won all four major finals he has competed in.

Alcaraz started like he was in a hurry to get off court in time to catch Spain’s Euro 2024 final against England and, from the outset, the 16-year age gap seemed to show.

It remains to be determined if Djokovic was hindered by his knee considering he started the tournament less than four weeks after having surgery on a torn meniscus.

Hopes of a repeat of last year’s epic final were high after a 20-point opening game in which Alcaraz had five break points and finally converted one after 13 minutes.

Even when he trailed by two sets, Djokovic searched for solutions, served well, and put Alcaraz under considerable pressure. It was not until Alcaraz reached 5-4, 40-0, and triple championship point, though, that he finally balked.

After a double fault and a fine forehand return from Djokovic, an excellent serve from Alcaraz set up a forehand drive volley. Just as he was about to strike the ball, a spectator screamed out from the crowd. Alcaraz missed that forehand and two more as he quickly relinquished the game.

To his credit, even when Djokovic followed up the break by holding easily to lead 6-5, Alcaraz did not panic.

He held serve, forced a tiebreak, and then played an outrageous drop-shot winner at 5-4 as he found the courage to force himself back onto the front foot to close out a brilliant win the hard way.