Alcaraz Island

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon in London, Carlos Alcaraz arrived at the famed All-England Lawn Club faced with the unenviable task of trying to dethrone Novak Djokovic. Djokovic, the 23-time Grand Slam Champion, had not lost at Wimbledon since 2017, and did not show any signs of ending that streak with the eyes of the sports world watching the Men’s Singles Final.

And at just 21-years-old, instead of shrinking from the moment against arguably the sport’s greatest player of all-time, Alcaraz took on the challenge.

Over the course of five sets and nearly five hours, Alcaraz and Djokovic put on a tennis masterclass, and in the end, it was the young Spaniard who walked away victorious, claiming his second career major title with a 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 win.

“It’s a dream come true for me. As I said before, of course it’s great to win, but even if I had lost, I would be really proud of myself with this amazing run,” said Alcaraz. “Making history in this beautiful tournament, playing a final against a legend of our sport. It’s a dream come true to be able to play on these stages. It’s amazing for a boy, 20-years-old, to reach this kind of situation really fast. I’m really, really proud of myself and the team that I have, the work we put in every day, to be able to lift this.”

The Wimbledon triumph validated what we already knew about Alcaraz, which is that he has the ability to beat anybody, anywhere. Djokovic even commented about it during his post-championship speech:

“I thought I would have trouble with you only on clay and maybe on hard courts, but not on grass,” he said. “But it’s a different story on grass from this year, obviously. Amazing way to adapt to the surface. You played twice before this year’s Wimbledon on grass, and it’s amazing what you did.”

That is seemingly the beauty and intrigue of Alcaraz’s game. As a native of Spain, everyone knew he would be successful on clay, being raised and developed on the array of clay courts in his home country, and he won his maiden major trophy at last year’s U.S. Open which demonstrated his ability to be dominant on hard courts.

“I’ve been playing in big stadiums, big games, fighting for big things. I think that helped me a lot to grow as a player, as a person. A year later, I’m totally different,” Alcaraz said of the difference between last year and this. “I have the Wimbledon trophy in my living room, so every time I have lunch or dinner with my family, I see the title. It’s something I don’t want to forget.”

Now with the Wimbledon trophy on his resume, it’s hard to find a flaw in his game. And as he makes the transition from the grass court season to the hard court season, Alcaraz is ready to return to New York and try to defend his U.S. Open title.

The athletic young star was all about the crowd energy when he was here last year, and learned about the atmosphere that can only be provided by New York, including the fans staying until after 3:00 a.m. to watch Alcaraz take out Italy’s Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals.

“It means a lot to me to have a lot of people supporting me here in New York…this year was unscriptable,” he said. “There were a lot of tough moments for me, tough matches. They were there all the time believing in me and supporting me. I finished the match against Jannik at almost 3:00 a.m. and they were supporting me until the last ball. I could say this trophy is for them as well. It’s thanks to them. Maybe if I hadn’t had them supporting me all the time, I couldn’t have this trophy today.”

For years, tennis fans have been waiting patiently for the next generation of players to supplant the Big Three. Many have tried and many have not succeeded at that, but with Roger Federer having retired and Rafael Nadal retiring after next season, Djokovic is the only one remaining from that Golden Era of tennis. And it seems as though Alcaraz is poised to take the baton from Djokovic and become the new face of the men’s game, something even Djokovic recognizes:

“I think people have been talking in the past 12 months or so about his game consisting of certain elements from Roger, Rafa and myself. I would agree with that. I think he’s got basically the best of all three worlds,” said Djokovic. “He’s got this mental resilience and maturity for someone who is 20-years-old. It’s quite impressive. He’s got this Spanish bull mentality of competitiveness and fighting spirit and incredible defense that we’ve seen with Rafa over the years.”

And perhaps the most poignant comment from Djokovic was:

“I haven’t played a player like him ever, to be honest. Roger and Rafa have their own obvious strengths and weaknesses. Carlos is a very complete player. Amazing adapting capabilities that I think are a key for longevity and for successful career on all surfaces.”

But Alcaraz still has a ways to go in order to be mentioned with these all-time greats, and it’s all about longevity and the ability to succeed over many years. For now, he is in possession of a second major title, and will be out to defend his U.S. Open trophy. Alcaraz will put his stunning athleticism and unbelievable shot making ability on display in front of the New York crowd once again as we close out the summer. While he is still out to accomplish more, he knows just how far he has come in his career already.

“I know that everything came so fast. Great tournaments, two Grand Slams, and I’m just 20-years-old. I know that I’m so young,” said Alcaraz. “It’s something that I worked to be in this position to fight for great things. But you never realize until you’ve done it. There are some times that I think about the last point of the U.S. Open, the last point of Wimbledon, and other great tournaments that I won and I still can’t believe it and still get goosebumps, so it’s crazy.”