Carlos Alcaraz dominates Novak Djokovic in straight sets to defend Wimbledon crown in style

Updated 15/07/2024 at 07:13 GMT

Carlos Alcaraz successfully defended his Wimbledon crown after beating Novak Djokovic in straight sets to become a four-time Grand Slam champion. The Spaniard proved too good and recovered from letting three match points slip to win 6-2 6-2 7-6(4) at the iconic All England Club. In winning, Alcaraz has now won back-to-back Grand Slams following his French Open success last month.

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Carlos Alcaraz turned in a performance of the ages to beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets at Wimbledon and claim the fourth Grand Slam of his career.

In a rematch of their marathon men’s singles final at the All England Club 12 months ago, Alcaraz proved too strong right from the first game and eventually prevailed 6-2 6-2 7-6(4).

There was late drama when the Spaniard let three match points at 40-0 on his own serve slip, but he dusted himself off to come through a tense tie-breaker.

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At just 21, Alcaraz now joins Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Djokovic in winning the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year.

"Honestly it is a dream for me winning this trophy," Alcaraz told the BBC. "I did an interview when I was 11 or 12 years old and I said that my dream is to win Wimbledon so I’m repeating my dream.

"I want to keep going but obviously it is a great feeling to play in this court, to lift this amazing trophy. For me this is the most beautiful tournament, the most beautiful court, and obviously the most beautiful trophy."

For Djokovic, he admitted he was beaten by the better man as he came up short in his bid to equal Federer's record of eight Wimbledon titles and move clear of Margaret Court with a 25th Grand Slam.

The first game lasted more than 10 minutes as both wrestled for the early momentum in what most assumed would be a tone-setter for a lengthy duel.

Alcaraz immediately found his rhythm returning the Djokovic serve and eventually broke at the fifth time of asking before growing in confidence and producing one of the most dazzling displays of tennis in history.

It was quite a departure from the start the Spaniard made to last year’s final, where he found himself trailing 5-0 inside half an hour.

Another break in the fifth game after a Djokovic double-fault saw Alcaraz move 4-1 ahead and he served out to take a comfortable opener.

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The pattern continued in the second. Despite winning just four of 12 points at the net in the first set, Djokovic kept coming forward, and again it proved his undoing.

He lost his first service game after approaching cross-court to Alcaraz’s forehand and being unable to lift the resultant volley over the net and then fell a double break behind after a double-fault in the seventh game.

Among all that, Alcaraz was producing his most consistently brilliant tennis of the tournament, mixing typically ferocious groundstrokes with exquisite drop shots, while his ability to chase down balls most would not consider remotely possible seemed to dent Djokovic’s typically iron resolve.

A few scattered double-faults of his own gave Djokovic a sniff in the odd game but Alcaraz moved two sets to the good in little over an hour with a rocket of a serve out wide.

Djokovic stopped the rot to hold serve to begin the third set and then opened up 0-30 on his opponent’s serve for the first time in the match.

But just when it seemed like the 24-time Grand Slam champion might be about to find a route into the match, Alcaraz turned on the style to hold and then went back on the offensive.

Few have made Djokovic look so unsure of himself during his career as Alcaraz on this afternoon at the famous venue.

He eventually found another break at 4-4 in the third and looked set to complete a serene victory when he opened up three match points at 40-0 on his own serve.

There were shades of Andy Murray’s winning game in 2013 when Djokovic recovered, only this time he broke back to give himself a glimmer of hope.

It only delayed the inevitable, though.

Despite a couple of uncharacteristic errors, Alcaraz recovered to power over the line in the tie-break and create another piece of history in his young career.

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