The Wimbledon men’s singles final day was undoubtedly a perfect day for Alcaraz: he defeated Serbian king Djokovic in straight sets to successfully defend his title, becoming the sixth man in the Open Era to win both the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back in the same year. A few hours after the match ended, the highly anticipated Euro Cup final kicked off, with Alcaraz’s supported Spanish team ultimately defeating England 2-1 to claim their fourth Euro Cup title.
Alcaraz defends his title in a strong fashion
Alcaraz received the glittering Challenge Cup from the Duchess of Cambridge for the second consecutive year, marking the fourth Grand Slam title of his career. Alcaraz achieved what the “Big Three” could not: at 21 years old, he owns four Grand Slam titles! Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic were respectively 22, 23, and 24 when they won their fourth Grand Slam title.
With this victory over Djokovic, Alcaraz continued his undefeated “terrifying record” in Grand Slam finals, becoming the second man in the Open Era, behind Federer, to win all of his first four Grand Slam singles finals.
Undoubtedly, Alcaraz’s trajectory is gradually matching that of the Big Three. In his post-match press conference, he spoke boldly, stating that he hopes his historical achievements will align with those of the greats in the future.
Djokovic, Alcaraz
“Obviously, this is a good start to my career, but I must keep moving forward; I have to carve out my own path. When my career ends, I hope to be on par with the greats; that is my main goal and my current dream. It doesn’t matter that I won four Grand Slams at 21; if I don’t continue progressing, these titles mean nothing.”
“I want to keep winning. I hope that when I retire, I will have many, many Grand Slam titles. I don’t know where my limits are; I just want to keep enjoying the moment and hold onto my dreams. So let’s see; when my career ends, whether I will have 25, 30, 15, or 4 (Grand Slam titles), I don’t know, but let’s look forward to the future together.”
Alcaraz is learning from the greats how to become the greatest ever. Over the past twelve months, he has learned much about how to win on Grand Slam center courts. Last year’s Wimbledon men’s singles final was new territory for him, but this year he knew exactly what he was doing, as he had been through it before.
“I no longer feel like a rookie; I’ve been through this situation before. Last year, I made many mistakes, which I improved upon. Before the final this year, I was calmer than last year; I tried not to think too much about the match. An hour before the final, I started feeling nervous, but prior to that, I was really calm, which helped me greatly in the match. I handled the game well; last year’s final was very different. This year, it was much better for me.”
It’s worth noting that Alcaraz’s performance at the beginning of the season wasn’t ideal. He lost to Zverev in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and then unfortunately sprained his ankle at the Rio clay court tournament in February. The turning point came in March at Indian Wells, where he defeated three top-10 players—Zverev, Sinner, and Medvedev—to win the title.
In his post-match interview, Alcaraz pointed out that it was after losing to Medvedev in four sets in the US Open semifinals last year that he began to realize he needed to present a more mature performance on the court, manage his aggressive impulses well, and avoid breakdowns under pressure.
Alcaraz at the 2023 US Open
“At the time, I wasn’t mature enough, so I lost that match. I had to grow up and be more mature in these important matches.” Alcaraz recalled his US Open semifinal against Medvedev last year, saying, “I remember clearly that after losing the first set, I kind of gave up in the second set. That is absolutely unforgivable behavior on the Grand Slam stage; I knew such a situation would never happen again. This made me pay more attention to my mindset in subsequent Grand Slams and tours. I have to be strong enough to give my best performance in the most critical and toughest moments.”
With the rich points from two Grand Slam titles, Alcaraz is rapidly closing in on Sinner, who is currently in first place in the season’s championship points standings; they are now only 250 points apart. Speaking about Sinner, who is around the same age, Alcaraz believes that new faces winning major titles is good for tennis: “I’m happy to see him perform well; we have a very healthy competitive relationship. As young players on the rise, our competition benefits tennis as a sport and all players.”
Alcaraz and Sinner have swept the first three Grand Slam titles of the year; unsurprisingly, they are the top two favorites for the year-end No. 1 ranking. The 2024 season still has the Olympics and the US Open, the two biggest events remaining. Will Alcaraz and Sinner “dominate” the championships? Can Djokovic reverse his decline? We’ll witness it together.
(Written by Wang Fei, Dato, edited by Wang Fei)
