Wimbledon | A dreamed and unexpected Alcaraz-Djokovic final

(Wimbledon) A year after Carlos Alcaraz’s triumph, the Wimbledon final will once again pit the young Spaniard against Novak Djokovic on Sunday, a seven-time winner who almost didn’t play the tournament, for a rematch that promises to be explosive.

The challenge for Alcaraz, world No. 3, is to hammer home the breach he opened last year in the Serbian’s unchallenged domination on the London grass from 2018 to 2023: 34 matches won in a row for four titles. To win his fourth Grand Slam title already at 21 years old.

For Djokovic, the stakes are more directly historical. Because, as every time he plays a Grand Slam tournament, he is playing for records.

On Sunday, at the age of 37, he will aim for an eighth Wimbledon title to equal Roger Federer’s record and take his own record of Grand Slam titles to 25.

He will already be playing his tenth final at the All England Tennis Club (two lengths from Federer’s record), the 37th^e in Grand Slam (he improves his own record, Federer has 31). Which means that once out of two times in his career, he has reached the final of the 75 majors in which he has participated!

Ten in three

He is also the only player in history, men and women combined, to have played ten finals in three of the four Majors (Australia, Wimbledon, US Open).

After a first half without a single final, a title on Sunday and all the records that go with it would also give a completely different colour to Djokovic’s season.

His presence in the final is a miracle and illustrates his extraordinary physical and mental abilities. The Serb, who had surgery on his right meniscus on June 5, still did not know four days before the start of the tournament whether he would be able to play it.

“I didn’t want to prove anything to anyone, I just wanted to do everything I could to be able to play at Wimbledon,” he explains, refuting any “imprudence.”

“I never went against the medical experts who were looking after my recovery,” he assures, agreeing that he always made “extra efforts” compared to what was asked of him.

Finally, he lined up and after three first rounds against opponents largely on his hand during which he was able to be careful, he assures since his round of 16 against Holger Rune that he no longer thinks about his knee which nevertheless remains in a flexible knee brace.

Free

“Now I play completely freely and as well as I can,” he said after his semi-final victory over the too-tender Lorenzo Sonego, whom he beat in three sets.

But on Sunday, he will have to show his very best level if he wants to have a chance against Alcaraz.

Opposite, Alcaraz as usual is having a blast on the court.

“I feel very good before this final, I have a really high level of tennis, great confidence, I move well… I am confident enough to get a very good result on Sunday,” he announced.

Because even if he has not yet shown his best level of the fortnight, like the Big 3 he has managed to win those matches where he did not feel at his best.

However, facing the Serb, he knows “what [s’] “wait” and he knows he will have to be at his best.

And although he assures that he does not “see himself as a favorite”, Alcaraz recalls that “trying to win is in [sa] nature “.

The tournament gave Djokovic a slight advantage in freshness: the Spaniard played 23 sets to reach the final and spent four more hours on the court than the Serb, who played 17 sets and took advantage of Alex De Minaur’s withdrawal in the quarter-finals.

But as Alcaraz says, no matter the circumstances, “every match is a war.”