World Number 1 and Wimbledon 2023 top seed Carlos Alcaraz justified his ranking and the hype surrounding him with his monumental victory over Novak Djokovic in the final of the All-England Championship on Sunday.
The summit clash produced a clash for the ages as the 20-year-old registered a come-from-behind win over the seven-time Wimbledon winner Djokovic. Alcaraz surrendered the opening set in tame fashion before rallying hard to seal a 1-6, 7-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 win over the 23-time grand slam winner at the most prestigious major events on the tennis calendar.
The very moment CARLOS ALCARAZ wins his first (and I’m presuming not last) Wimbledon title at 20 years of age. Unbelievable skill and achievement ????????pic.twitter.com/0NU7mRiCtT
— Dr. Jennifer Cassidy (@OxfordDiplomat) July 16, 2023
The title at the AELTC was Alcaraz’s second major of his fledgling career following his US Open 2022 triumph and is sure to be a shot in the arm of the 20-year-old looking increasingly likely to take the mantle on the tennis circuit as time goes by.
Alcaraz struggled in the opening set of the high stakes encounter against one of the best players to ever pick up a racquet, but found his feet in the second set, which he claimed 8-6 on tiebreaker.
The third set was a bit more straightforward for the Spanish sensation as he established a 2-1 lead with his 6-1 win before Djokovic hit back to win the fourth set to make it two sets apiece and force a deciding fifth set in the championship fixture.
Djokovic started the decider well as he saved a break point and converted his opening serve on the second advantage point before surrendering a break point himself as Alcaraz levelled things up at one game each in the fifth.
Alcaraz managed to break Djokovic’s serve in the third game and held his own serve in the fourth game of the decider to move into a 3-1 lead. But, Djokovic wasn’t going to take it lying down and did his best to cut the arrears with a service hold to make it 2-3 in favour of Alcaraz.
The Spanish youngster served out a strong game at the crucial moment to push his lead to 4-2 before Djokovic’s produced a service game of extraordinary quality. However, Alcaraz served for the championship and held his nerve to get his name up on the roll of honour at the SW19.
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