Dominant Carlos Alcaraz blows away Novak Djokovic to retain Wimbledon title

LONDON – Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz produced an utterly ruthless performance to dismantle Serbia’s Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) in a rematch of the 2023 Wimbledon final to retain his title on July 14.

Alcaraz now has four Grand Slam trophies with a perfect record in Major finals, including his US Open victory in 2022 and his French Open win in June. Defeat denied Djokovic a 25th Grand Slam title to surpass Margaret Court in the all-time list and also equal Swiss Roger Federer’s haul of eight men’s singles titles at Wimbledon.

“It’s a dream for me, winning this trophy,” said Alcaraz, who became the ninth man to retain his Wimbledon title in the professional era.

“In an interview when I was 11 or 12, I said my dream was to win Wimbledon, so I’m replaying my dream.

“I want to keep going but it’s a great feeling to play on this beautiful court and to lift this amazing trophy. This is the most beautiful tournament, most beautiful court and most beautiful trophy.”

Victory in two hours and 27 minutes made him the sixth man in the professional era to claim the Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles in the same year, joining Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Rafael Nadal, Federer and Djokovic.

“It’s a huge honour for me to be part of those players who have achieved Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year. They are huge champions. I don’t consider myself as a champion yet, not like them, but I’ll keep going to build my path, my journey,” Alcaraz said.

He pounced on his fifth break point in a tight first game that lasted 14 minutes as Djokovic’s usually impenetrable defence was breached early on a sunlit Centre Court. The third seed dropped the hammer from there and powered through the first set on the back of some solid serving, leaving Djokovic with a mountain to climb.

Second seed Djokovic came under more pressure at the start of the next set as Alcaraz bullied the 37-year-old in the early exchanges to break and capitalised on his service woes for an imposing two-set lead.

Djokovic and Alcaraz went toe-to-toe until 4-4 in the third set before the 21-year-old broke with a big backhand winner to take a 5-4 lead, as the Centre Court crowd sensed an early finish. However, despite racing to 40-0 with some sublime tennis, he squandered three match points and dropped serve as fans rose to their feet to egg Djokovic on.

There was to be no comeback, however, as Alcaraz tamed his nerves to clinch victory in the tiebreak around 20 minutes later when Djokovic crashed a return into the net.

“Obviously, it’s not the result I wanted and especially in the first couple of sets, the level of tennis wasn’t up to par from my side. But credit to Carlos for playing some complete tennis. From the back of the court, on serve, he had it all today,” Djokovic said.

“I tried to push him and saved the three match points, extended the match a little bit, but it wasn’t meant to be, really. He was an absolutely deserved winner today. Congratulations to him for amazing tennis.”

It was the second-most lopsided loss for Djokovic in his 37 Major title deciders after his French Open final loss to Nadal in 2020, when he won just seven games.

Kate, Britain’s Princess of Wales,

was greeted with a standing ovation at Wimbledon

in her second public appearance in 2024 while she undergoes treatment for cancer.

The patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club wore a bright purple dress as she strode into the venue with her daughter, Princess Charlotte, to watch the men’s singles final.

Arriving at Centre Court’s royal box, a beaming Kate waved to spectators, who rose to cheer her arrival. She later presented the trophy to Alcaraz.

“I am making good progress, but as anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days,” she said in a personal written message ahead of that appearance. “My treatment is ongoing and will be for a few more months.” REUTERS