By Chima Azu
Spanish tennis superstar Carlos Alcaraz defeated the defending champion and also world number two Novak Djokovic who is also the in the final of 2023 Wimbledon in a five set thriller which lasted over four hours (1-6, 7-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4) to claim his second Grand Slam title.
Twenty year old Alcaraz becomes the first player to beat Novak on the Wimbledon center court since 2013 when the Serb lost to Andy Murray. He also stops Novak from equaling Roger Federer’s 8 Wimbledon titles. This year’s Wimbledon will have a new name aside Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic who has won it for the last 21 years. The last time it had a new different name aside those four was in 2002.
Alcaraz was outclassed in the first set as he was broken twice and lost the set 1-6. He fought back in the second set with both players holding on to their serves up until 6-6 which took the set to a tie-break. The Spaniard eventually won the tie-break 8-6 to equal the sets to 1-1. The third set was more like the first but this time in favor of Alcaraz who outplayed Novak with some sublime winners while the Serb was making a lot of unforced errors. He broke Novak twice and won the third set 6-1. Novak came back all guns blazing in the fought to level the sets at 2 all and took the match into a decider. In the final set Alcaraz broke his opponent once and held his nerve to serve out the game to clinch the Wimbledon title for the first time.
The match was not just for the title and price money alone, it was also for who will claim the world number one ranking spot that will be released on Monday. If Djokovic had won he would have surpassed Alcaraz as the new world number one. However, with this win Alcaraz will still retain his number spot with added points for winning another Grand Slam.
Alcaraz now has two Grand Slam titles to his name (US Open and Wimbledon) and a total of seven trophies. He has won a total of three titles this year two ATPs and one Grand Slam. With the US Open yet to be played one will fancy the 20 year old to defend his title later this year.
