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Carlos Alcaraz produced tennis that was magical at times and brilliant at other times. He won The Championships for the second year in a row and for the second year in a row it was Novak Djokovic left in the position of runner-up. Unlike twelve months before when Alcaraz won 6-4 in the fifth in four hours 42 minutes, this Wimbledon final was pretty straightforward.
For almost the entire match Alcaraz was nearly untouchable. He had a hiccup when leading 6-2, 6-2, 5-4 and 40/0. There were three championship points on his racquet strings, but a touch of nerves came into the picture when he was serving and even put in a double fault Djokovic jumped on the chance.
From facing three points to lose the final, he broke to make it 5-5 and held serve to lead 6-5. Alcaraz made it 6-6 and in the breaker went on attack scoring an early mini break. Djokovic levelled the breaker at 3/3 but from there Alcaraz lost only one point and the final was his when Novak netted a forehand 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4).
"It is an amazing feeling for me being the champion here in Wimbledon back-to-back," Alcaraz said. "Yeah, I mean, it is great. I'm really proud and really happy about it.
"It is a great feeling. Obviously, it was a great match for me. Obviously, Novak didn't play his best the first two sets, a lot of mistakes. I made the most of that. Yeah, it is a great feeling even thinking about being French Open winner and Wimbledon champion the same year, that few players just done it before. It's unbelievable.
"I try to realize that I won Wimbledon twice and try to feel that it was the same feeling as last year."
By winning a second Wimbledon, Alcaraz joins Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg the only men in the open era to win multiple Wimbledon singles while still 21 or under, and he joins Roger Federer as the only men in the open era to win his first four major singles finals; Federer did it seven times.
And having won the French Open barely a month before, Carlos is just the second man to win the Roland Garros Wimbledon double in the same year.
The first game of the match was epic. With Djokovic serving it last 14 minutes and that very probably set the groundwork for what was to come.
"The first game was incredible. One of the longest first games I've ever played," Djokovic said. "Yeah, that set the tone. I think he was coming out from the blocks ready to battle and ready to play his best level right away, which wasn't the case last year where I started better, had a comfortable first-set win. Today, from the first point, he was there, he was ready. That's all I can say in terms of that.
"He was a better player. He played every single shot better than I did. I don't think I could have done something much more. Try to pump myself up maybe, yes. Get the crowd involved."
Djokovic added that Alcaraz "out played" him and that he was "inferior on the court". The Spaniard's serve was a big factor as well and he was holding serve comfortably which added the pressure on Djokovic to hold serve. There were no free points and there was great variety in how he played.
Alcaraz know about all the stats that relate to him - first since this and youngest for that; he says that's all well and good but it's not something that he focuses on.
"Obviously, it's a really great start of my career, but I have to keep going. I have to keep building my path," he said.
"At the end of my career, I want to sit at the same table as the big guys. That's my main goal. That's my dream right now. It doesn't matter if I already won four Grand Slams at the age of 21. If I'm not keep going, all these tournaments for me, it doesn't matter.
"I really want to keep going. I will try to keep winning and end my career with a lot of them."
The gentlemen's doubles title went to the unseeded Finnish-British combination of Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten who saved championship point to upset the 15th seeds, Aussies Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson in a enthralling match 6-7, 7-6, 7-6.
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