Carlos Alcaraz admitted it is a dream come true for him to win his second Wimbledon title after beating Novak Djokovic by 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 at Centre Court on Sunday. Alcaraz was able to hit the ground running, breaking the Serbian’s serve in the opening game, which lasted for more than 15 minutes.
From there on, Alcaraz was able to put an exhibition of strokes, giving no chance to the seven-time Wimbledon champion. Alcaraz was able to get a double break in the first two sets and Djokovic could not bring his A-game, missing shots, which he usually makes.
As expected the Serb gave a much more stern competition in the third set but the Spaniard had a golden opportunity to close out the match at 5-4, 40/0 but he missed three championship points. However, the 21-year-old youngster was able to get over the line in the tiebreaker.
“It is a dream for me, winning this trophy,” said Alcaraz at the trophy ceremony. “In an interview when I was 11 or 12 years old I said my dream was to win Wimbledon, so I am repaying my dream. I want to keep going but it is a great feeling to play in this beautiful court and to lift this amazing trophy. This is the most beautiful tournament, most beautiful court and most beautiful trophy.”
Alcaraz became the sixth player in the Open Era to win the double of Roland Garros and Wimbledon, joining the likes of Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic.
“I think fighting, believing,” Alcaraz said when asked about how he managed to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon back-to-back. “It is 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 will keep going to build my path, my journey. It is a huge honour for me.”
Alcaraz also reflected when he squashed three championship points and said he tried to play his best tennis in the tiebreaker after not converting his chances.
“It was 40/0 but I was seeing [the trophy] so far away,” said Alcaraz. “Djokovic is an unbelievable fighter and I knew he was going to have his chances again, so I had to stay there. I tried to win the point with the serve, but I couldn’t.
“It was difficult for me. I tried to stay calm, I tried to stay positive at that situation, going into the tie-break, and I tried to play my best tennis. That’s all I was thinking about. I’m really glad that at the end I could find the solution and I’m happy to be in this situation.”
