Djokovic, Novak

Subterms

    More stories

    • 138 Shares139 Views

      in Tennis

      In Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic Has a Much-Needed Gift: A Rival

      by

      The budding rivalry between the two top-ranked players has added an unexpected thrill to the final act of Djokovic’s career, our columnist writes.Novak Djokovic had dominated all of the most significant moments of the first half of this tennis season. After winning his 10th Australian Open, he emerged with the Roland Garros crown, his 23rd Grand Slam tournament title, tied for the career record.A win at Wimbledon, on tennis’s most hallowed ground, would have put him three-quarters of the way to becoming the first man to achieve a calendar Grand Slam in 54 years. The Serb seemed destined to stand alone as an unchecked great of the sport, surpassing the win totals of both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal without a credible challenger to the throne.Then came Hurricane Carlito, a.k.a. Carlos Alcaraz, surprising the tennis world with a championship match victory over Djokovic on the slick Wimbledon grass, a surface assumed to have been the Spaniard’s kryptonite.How quickly fates can change. Wimbledon was just the third head-to-head match between the two. But when the final was over, as Alcaraz lofted the greatest trophy in tennis skyward, a budding tug of war had morphed into a full-blown rivalry for men’s tennis supremacy.What a gift Alcaraz is for tennis.What a gift this still-new force is for Djokovic.Now their pairing, the most electric in tennis, is widely expected to be the thrill of this year’s U.S. Open. Alcaraz, the world’s top-ranked male player, will defend his U.S. Open championship, which he won in 2022’s Djokovic-less field.Watching Alcaraz, a supreme talent at just 20, play in person is like seeing a fresh-off-the-assembly-line Maserati burst down the freeway, leaving every other make and model in its wake. You realize you’ve never seen something on the road so sleek, nimble, powerful or suited to its task.It is often a turning point in professional tennis when a gifted young talent ascends to stardom in such quick fashion. In the men’s game, to cite just two instances, think of 18-year-old Bjorn Borg helping open the curtain for the 1970s tennis boom by winning the French Open in 1974. Flash forward to 19-year-old Pete Sampras heralding a new era by winning the U.S. Open in 1990.Alcaraz’s emergence presents new possibilities.But even with a million miles on his legs and a right arm prone to injury, Djokovic, 36, is embracing the challenge of fending him off. He has described Alcaraz as something entirely novel: a mixture of Nadal’s bullish determination, Federer’s grace and the Serb’s canny guile. “I haven’t played a player like him,” Djokovic said of Alcaraz, in glowing and astonished terms.At the Western & Southern Open finals two weeks ago in the Cincinnati area, Djokovic often appeared ready to buckle in the center-court sauna that was the championship match.Between points of a classic contested for nearly four sweltering hours, Djokovic gasped for breath. During changeovers, he stared woefully downward and wrapped bags of ice around his neck.Then he rose. And took over.Djokovic beat back a match point and kept winning critical points — sprinting to all corners, redirecting Alcaraz howitzers with topspin, underspin and sidespin, besting the powerful upstart with speed, touch and cleverness.During the trophy ceremony at the Western and Southern Open in Mason, Ohio, Djokovic told Alcaraz he hoped they would play each other at the U.S. Open.Matthew Stockman/Getty ImagesWhen it was over, the scoreboard spoke to the small margin between these two. Djokovic won, 5-7, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4). That’s the difference of one shot, maybe two. An inch more distance on a serve, an inch less heft on a lob.Given the sudden intensity of their matches, it’s remarkable to remember they played for the first time, on the Madrid clay, in 2022 — a match won by Alcaraz. After they traded the No. 1 ranking in men’s tennis this season, their head-to-head record is even at 2-2.Their pairing has added an unexpected third act to Djokovic’s 20-year career.Act I: The long-ago time when he seemed perpetually in the shadow of Nadal and Federer.Act II: In 2011, he embarked on the most stunning run in the history of men’s tennis, an epoch in which he won 22 of his men’s record 23 Grand Slam events and came to dominate his two rivals. Was it because of his gluten-free, plant-based diet? Or all the meditation and yoga and mental training? Did it matter?Act III: With Federer retired to run his business empire and Nadal’s injuries putting his return to the tour in doubt, Djokovic’s career was finally unshackled from those two stubborn threats. Then a new opponent emerged.For a player as prideful and aware of his place in the tennis firmament as Djokovic, the thought of Alcaraz’s next 15 years perhaps offers new motivation. Should he remain healthy, it is possible to imagine the Spaniard challenging Djokovic’s voluminous records, including the mind-boggling haul of Grand Slam events.But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. What could be coming next is exciting enough.“I’m hoping we can play in some weeks’ time in New York,” Djokovic told Alcaraz at the trophy ceremony in Ohio. Knowing the top two seeds could meet only in the final, the crowd roared in approval. “That would be nice.” More

    • 150 Shares189 Views

      in Tennis

      Novak Djokovic, Back in New York and Loving It as Never Before

      by

      For two years, Novak Djokovic has been dreaming about New York.He has had plenty of success here, winning the U.S. Open three times. It’s where he made one of his most famous shots, returning Roger Federer’s serve with a walloping forehand when he was down double match point in their semifinal in 2011.His mind, though, has been stuck on one of his lowest moments, just before the end of his disappointing loss in the 2021 U.S. Open singles final against Daniil Medvedev.Djokovic was one win away from just about the only thing he has not accomplished in his career — becoming the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win all four Grand Slams in a single year. He sat in his chair on the sideline before the final game listening to the crowd of 23,000 in Arthur Ashe Stadium, who had long mostly cheered for his beloved opponents, roaring for him instead. He sobbed into a towel.He knew that New York crowds appreciated seeing greatness and history. He had felt and heard them pulling for him as soon as he walked onto the court, and they were still there for him as he sat on the edge of defeat.“Kind of a signal that I’m feeling very comfortable on the court,” Novak Djokovic said after practicing at Arthur Ashe on Wednesday. “Good fun. Positive energy.”Amir Hamja/The New York Times“I fell in love with the New Yorkers and New York in a completely different way that day,” Djokovic said during an interview on a quiet Wednesday evening in the player garden outside the stadium.After missing the tournament last year because of his refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19, Djokovic is finally back at the U.S. Open. Like his collection of Grand Slam singles titles, now numbering 23 and the most of any man, the love he felt that Sunday two years ago seems only to have grown, on both sides.“I cannot wait to have Novak back in New York,” Stacey Allaster, the tournament director, said during a recent news conference.Djokovic has always been a gladiator on the court. He roars, pounds his chest, returns taunts from fans and smashes the occasional racket. He got himself defaulted from the 2020 U.S. Open when he swatted a ball in anger and inadvertently hit a line judge.But now, at 36, he has grown into being relaxed and introspective off it. While he has no shortage of pointed political stances, which he does not hide, he also apologizes for being late, makes fun of himself, and is easy with a smile. He wants people to like him, and he isn’t afraid to admit it.Djokovic after losing the U.S. Open singles final in 2021 that robbed him of achieving the Grand Slam.Ben Solomon for The New York TimesThe public has seen more of the latter since the French Open in June, when Djokovic overtook Federer and Rafael Nadal, his longtime rivals, in the race for the most Grand Slam singles titles.Fans packed the lower bowl of Ashe for his first practice at the stadium last week. Amid cranking serves and banging backhand returns, Djokovic acceded to the shouted requests for his famous tennis impersonations, mimicking the motions of Maria Sharapova, Andy Roddick, Pete Sampras and others that are part of a routine that began in the U.S. Open locker room in 2007, many championships ago.“Kind of a signal that I’m feeling very comfortable on the court,” he said afterward. “Good fun. Positive energy.”Afterward, he told Allaster that it was one of the best practice sessions he had ever had.When security guards gave the signal that the hitting session was nearing its end, children — and plenty of adults, too — pushed toward the edge of the court, waving phones and oversized tennis balls as they clamored for pictures and autographs. Djokovic spent more than 20 minutes working the edge of the court like a presidential candidate on a rope line as fans from the other side of it chanted his name, hoping to get him to come over there next.He couldn’t. A gym workout awaited. He has not come for another round of sympathy cheers. He is studying videos of the top competition, keeping to his strict regimen, getting his sleep, eating before it gets too late, and watching every morsel of food he puts in his mouth.Djokovic indulged fans seeking autographs after his practice session.Amir Hamja/The New York TimesWednesday night’s protein- and carbohydrate-packed dinner, eaten shortly after his gym session, was two salmon steaks, two large baked sweet potatoes, healthy servings of small yellow potatoes and chickpeas, and a bowl of pasta with olive oil and fresh vegetables.“The matches are going to get tougher, more demanding as the tournament progresses,” he said between bites. “So I’m always thinking in advance. I’m focusing on the next challenge, of course, but I also have in the back of my mind the long-term goal and the long-term plan, which is to win this tournament.”Much has changed since Djokovic last came close to winning here. He has become the elder legend of the sport and solidified his status as the greatest player of the modern era. Federer is retired. Nadal is recovering from surgery and on the edge of retirement. Carlos Alcaraz, the 20-year-old Spanish upstart long touted as the sport’s next big thing, has emerged ahead of schedule to fulfill every lofty expectation. He is the U.S. Open’s reigning champion and the world No 1.Fending him off, and all the other comers of the so-called next next generation (an ungentle swipe at the mid- and late-20-somethings like Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, whom Alcaraz has leapfrogged) is likely the final chapter of Djokovic’s career. His Grand Slam rivalry this year with Alcaraz, a rare and tantalizing intergenerational duel that pits raw talent and athleticism against inimitable experience, is the story of the sport.Djokovic prevailed in their first match at the French Open, where Alcaraz succumbed to stress-induced cramping, but lost in five thrilling sets in the Wimbledon final. Maybe it was a torch-passing moment. Maybe not. Either way, Djokovic is enjoying himself. Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner of Italy and Holger Rune of Denmark, he said, are members of a generation that unapologetically believes it is capable of beating him to win big tournaments. They are bold, and he loves that.“My role nowadays is to prevent them from that,” he said with the sly grin that has become a late-career trademark.Carlos Alcaraz greeted Djokovic at the net after his victory at Wimbledon.Patrick Smith/Getty ImagesHe can remember when he was one of them, in his late teens and early 20s, showing up in New York and, like many players before him, being blown away by the size and energy of the city. For a kid from a mountain town in the Balkans, even one who had traveled throughout Europe for tennis, it was a lot.On his first visit, he stayed with family friends in New Jersey, commuting every day to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Every time he sees a sign for the Midtown Tunnel, his thoughts drift back to the innocence of that first trip in 2003.Now he spends the week before the U.S. Open at a hotel in Manhattan, soaking in the energy of the city, before moving with his wife and young children to a friend’s estate in Alpine, N.J. There, he switches into “lockdown mode” and finds peace and serenity among the trees and nature, especially on the days between matches, when he will often practice with hitting partners there rather than trekking to Queens.There is another advantage to that locale. Djokovic has heard plenty of stories in the locker room of players who have fallen victim to the pull of the New York night. Some of them involve his peers, and he may have even accompanied them to a club or two in an earlier life.Djokovic on a pop-up tennis court during a U.S. Open event at Times Square.Leonardo Munoz/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images“I was lucky early on to have people around me that kept me at bay,” he said. “But I did have freedom to explore and go around. Let’s say that I did get to know New York at night as well.”That will not happen this year, not with the memory of the loss to Alcaraz so fresh in his mind and the young Spaniard presenting a challenge equal to Djokovic’s greatest duels with Federer, Nadal and Andy Murray in his prime. After that Wimbledon loss, Djokovic put his rackets away for two weeks and headed for Croatia and Montenegro to vacation with his family in the mountains and the waters he knows so well. He pulled out of the National Bank Open in Toronto, citing fatigue.The tennis schedule does not indulge regret and hindsight, though, and quickly it was time to begin preparing for the next quest, the tournaments that often unfold in the sweltering, late-summer humidity of Cincinnati and New York. He trained in the hottest times of European summer days. Then he did two more “big heat” workouts when he arrived in Cincinnati for the Western & Southern Open.Good thing. Last Sunday’s final against Alcaraz was an enthralling, three-set slugfest that Djokovic won in a deciding-set tiebreaker that lasted nearly four hours and pushed him to the edge of heat stroke. Alcaraz cramped in the climactic moments. Djokovic called it one of the toughest mental and physical challenges of his career.Djokovic after defeating Alcaraz in the Western & Southern Open.Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer, via USA Today Sports, via ReutersA grueling test like that wasn’t really a part of his U.S. Open prep plan, but the intent was to win the tournament. It always is.“How you win and how long does it take, that’s something that’s unpredictable,” he said. “Better this way than losing a match like that, that’s for sure.”Or, love and dreamy moment aside, the one that happened in New York the last time around. This year, he hopes, another kind of dream awaits. More

    • 188 Shares169 Views

      in Tennis

      U.S. Open Draws Pave the Way for a Rematch of Djokovic vs. Alcaraz in Final

      by

      Novak Djokovic, the No. 2 seed, does not have an easy path to a 24th Grand Slam title, and neither does Iga Swiatek, the defending women’s champion.After a marathon match between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday in the final of the Western & Southern Open in Ohio, Djokovic said he hoped to play Alcaraz again at the U.S. Open “for the crowd.”The crowd may get to see that rematch.The men’s and women’s singles draws for the U.S. Open, which begins on Monday in New York, revealed the path for Djokovic and Alcaraz to meet again in the final, which would also be a rematch of last month’s Wimbledon final, a thrilling five-setter that Alcaraz won after nearly five hours on the court.“Every match we play against each other goes the distance,” Djokovic said after the final on Sunday, adding that the match felt like a Grand Slam.Djokovic returns to New York after missing the U.S. Open last year because he was unvaccinated against the coronavirus and travel restrictions would not allow him to enter the United States. Now, with an injured Rafael Nadal and a retired Roger Federer not in his way, Djokovic will seek his 24th Grand Slam title and his third of the season after winning in Australia and France earlier this year.Djokovic, who will play Alexandre Muller of France in the first round of the tournament, will not have an easy path to the final. He could potentially face the No. 7 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in the quarterfinals, and in the semifinals, Djokovic could play Holger Rune of Denmark or Casper Ruud, the Norwegian who reached last year’s U.S. Open final.Alcaraz, who will face Dominik Koepfer of Germany in the first round, could also see some formidable opposition as he looks to defend his U.S. Open title. Alcaraz could play against Jannik Sinner of Italy in the quarterfinals, followed by one of two Russians, either Andrey Rublev or Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 U.S. Open champion.The women’s draw could also lead to several rivalries and rematches. Iga Swiatek, the No. 1 women’s player in the world, could end up in the final against Aryna Sabalenka, this year’s Australian Open champion.In defending her U.S. Open title, Swiatek could face Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals. Before this month, Swiatek had won seven matches against Gauff, but the 19-year-old American finally found a way to defeat Swiatek this month in the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open. Gauff went on to win the tournament for her first WTA 1000 title.On the other side of the draw, Sabalenka could play a quarterfinal match against Ons Jabeur, the Tunisian No. 5 seed who reached the U.S. Open final last year and lost in the Wimbledon final in July. In the semis, Sabalenka could meet either Caroline Garcia of France or Jessica Pegula, the American No. 3 seed.While both draws offer promising matchups, this year’s tournament will miss some big names: An injury has kept Nadal sidelined since the Australian Open, with hopes to return next year. Naomi Osaka, a two-time U.S. Open champion, will miss the tournament after giving birth to her daughter this summer, and Emma Raducanu, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, is out as she recovers from three minor procedures.Simona Halep, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion, was withdrawn from the tournament because of a provisional suspension she received last year after she tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug during the 2022 U.S. Open.This year’s U.S. Open will also miss trick shots from Nick Kyrgios, who withdrew from the tournament because of a wrist injury.But despite the notable absences, the tournament will open with some strong first-round matches: Tsitsipas, who lost to Djokovic in this year’s Australian Open final, will start off against Milos Raonic, a Wimbledon finalist in 2016. Venus Williams, the 43-year-old seven-time Grand Slam champion, will play Paula Badosa, who won at Indian Wells in 2021. And Sloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, will play in the first round against Beatriz Haddad Maia, a Brazilian player who has had a decent season, reaching the French Open semifinals this year and the round of 16 at Wimbledon. More

    • 138 Shares179 Views

      in Tennis

      ‘Break Point’ Just Might Be the Best Way to Watch Tennis

      by

      The docuseries feels more like a prestige psychodrama — which gets the highs and lows of the pro circuit right.In the sixth episode of the Netflix docuseries “Break Point,” Ajla Tomljanovic, a journeywoman tennis player who has spent much of the last decade in the Top 100 of the world rankings, is shown splayed across an exercise mat in a drab training room after reaching the 2022 Wimbledon quarterfinals. Her father, Ratko, stretches out her hamstrings. She receives a congratulatory phone call from her sister and another from her idol-turned-mentor, the 18-time major champion Chris Evert, before Ratko announces that it’s time for the dreaded ice bath. “By the way,” Tomljanovic says at one point, “do we have a room?” Shortly after his daughter sealed her spot in the final eight of the world’s pre-eminent tennis tournament, Ratko was seen on booking.com, extending their stay in London.This is not the stuff of your typical sports documentary, but it is the life of a professional tennis player. Circumnavigating the globe for much of the year with only a small circle of coaches, physiotherapists and perhaps a parent, they shoulder alone the bureaucratic irritations that, in other elite sports, might be outsourced to agents and managers. If at some tournaments they surprise even themselves by outlasting their hotel accommodations, most events will only harden them to the standard torments of the circuit, which reminds them weekly of their place in the pecking order. As Taylor Fritz, now the top-ranked American men’s player, remarks in one “Break Point” episode, “It’s tough to be happy in tennis, because every single week everyone loses but one person.” This is a sobering audit, coming from a player who wins considerably more than his approximately 2,000 peers on the tour.“Break Point,” executive-produced by Paul Martin and the Oscar-winning filmmaker James Gay-Rees, arrived this year as a gift to tennis fans, for whom splashy, well-produced and readily accessible documentaries about the sport have been hard to come by. Tennis, today, finds itself in the crepuscular light of an era when at least five different players — the Williams sisters, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic — have surely deserved mini-series of their own. But the sport has never enjoyed its own “All or Nothing,” the all-access Amazon program that follows a different professional sports team each season, or the event-television status accorded to “The Last Dance,” the Netflix docuseries about Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, with its luxury suite of talking heads: Nas, Isiah Thomas, “former Chicago resident” Barack Obama. Perhaps this is because the narrative tropes of the genre tend toward triumphs and Gatorade showers, while the procedural and psychological realities of professional tennis lie elsewhere. The 10 episodes of “Break Point” render tennis unromantically: This is the rare sports doc whose primary subject is loss.In Andre Agassi’s memorably frank memoir, “Open,” he describes the tennis calendar with subtle poetry, detailing “how we start the year on the other side of the world, at the Australian Open, and then just chase the sun.” This itinerary more or less dictates the structure of “Break Point,” which opens at the year’s first Grand Slam and closes at the year-end championships in November. At each tournament, the players it spotlights post impressive results — and then, typically, they lose, thwarted sometimes by the sport’s stubborn luminaries but more often by bouts of nerves or exhaustion. They find comfort where they can, juggling a soccer ball or lying back with a self-made R.&B. track in a hotel room. But many tears are shed, after which they redouble their commitments to work harder, be smarter, get hungrier. “You have to be cold to build a champion mind-set,” says the Greek player Stefanos Tsitsipas.‘It’s tough to be happy in tennis.’Those who watched Wimbledon this month might find, in all this, an instructive companion piece to live tennis. “Break Point” is frustratingly short on actual game play, shaving matches down to their rudiments in a way that understates the freakish tactical discipline required of players; viewers will not, for example, come away with any greater understanding of point construction than they will from having watched Djokovic pull his opponents out wide with progressively heavier forehands, only to wrong-foot them with a backhand up the line. They will, however, come to understand how intensely demoralizing it must be to stand across the net from him. In an episode following last year’s Wimbledon, we watch the talented but irascible Nick Kyrgios, as close as tennis has to its own Dennis Rodman, play Djokovic in the final. He gets off to a hot start and then, like so many before him, begins to wilt. “He’s calmer; you can’t rush him,” he says of Djokovic, in a voice-over the series aptly sets against footage of an exasperated Kyrgios admonishing the umpire, the crowd, even friends and family in his own box. These are athletes we’re accustomed to seeing at their steeliest or their most combustible; the matches in “Break Point” may be fresh in the memory of most tennis fans, but the series benefits greatly from its subjects’ clearer-headed reflections.For all its pretensions to realism, “Break Point” is a shrewd, and perhaps doomed, attempt to fill the sport’s impending power vacuum. Kyrgios and Tsitsipas are among a handful of strivers it positions as the sport’s new stars, along with others like Casper Ruud, Ons Jabeur and Aryna Sabalenka. All, naturally, subjected themselves to Netflix’s cameras. This kind of access is increasingly crucial to sports documentaries, a fact that often results in work that’s unduly deferential to its subjects, as with “The Last Dance” and Michael Jordan.Tennis, though, runs counter to this mandate. It is perhaps the sport most conducive to solipsism. Singles players perform alone. On-court coaching is generally prohibited, so there are no rousing speeches to inspire unlikely comebacks. The game’s essential psychodrama takes place within the mind — often in the 25 seconds allotted between points, or in the split seconds during which one must decide whether to go cross-court or down the line, to flatten the ball or welter it with spin. I can remember, as a junior-tennis also-ran, my coaches saying that once my eyes wandered to my opponent across the net, they knew I would lose. This might explain why tennis players so often resort to their index of obsessive tics, like hiking up their socks or adjusting their racket strings just so.By the season’s end, we meet Tomljanovic again at the U.S. Open, where she earned the awkward distinction of sending Serena Williams into retirement. At the time, ESPN’s broadcast of the match yielded nearly five million viewers, making it the most-watched tennis telecast in the network’s history. This was Serena’s swan song, but “Break Point” depicts it from the perspective of our reluctant victor. Between the second and third sets, Tomljanovic shields her face with a sweat towel, as if to quiet the sound of 24,000 spectators rooting against her. In tennis, it seems, even winning can feel like a drag.After the match, we find Tomljanovic cooling down on a stationary bike. Ratko, who has emerged as the show’s sole source of comedic relief, comes up from behind, embracing his daughter with a joke about her beating the greatest player of all time. “But why do I feel so conflicted?” she asks. There is no Gatorade bath, no confetti. To win the tournament, she still has four more matches to go.Opening illustration: Source photographs from Netflix; Tim Clayton/Corbis, via Getty ImagesJake Nevins is a writer in Brooklyn and the digital editor at Interview Magazine. He has written about books, sports and pop culture for The New York Times, The New York Review of Books and The Nation. More

    • 113 Shares199 Views

      in Tennis

      Alcaraz Wins Wimbledon in a Thrilling Comeback Against Djokovic

      by

      Carlos Alcaraz won his first Wimbledon title and left Novak Djokovic, the overwhelming favorite, with his first finals loss at the All England Club in a decade.After years of false starts, men’s tennis finally has a proper war between the generations.In a startling comeback that rocked the All England Club’s venerable Centre Court, Carlos Alcaraz, the 20-year-old Spanish star who has blitzed the sport in his brief career, pulled off the nearly impossible, beating Novak Djokovic in a Wimbledon final on the grass that the man widely recognized as the greatest ever to play the sport has long treated as his back lawn.Besides chasing the Grand Slam, Djokovic was aiming to extinguish the dreams of another heralded upstart challenging his hold on the game, which, so far, has amounted to 23 Grand Slam tournament titles. Alcaraz is the standard-bearer of the next group of players who are supposed to move the sport beyond the era of the Big Three, an era that includes Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and that Djokovic has ruled longer than many expected.Alcaraz won the U.S. Open last year in thrilling, acrobatic fashion, serving notice that men’s tennis was going to be shaken up by an unusual talent. This year, he withdrew from the Australian Open to nurse an injury and was defeated by Djokovic in the semifinals at the French Open. But the buzz around him and his future never diminished.“It’s great for the new generation,” Alcaraz said, “to see me beating him and making them think that they are capable to do it.”Down after the first set and struggling simply to avoid embarrassment, Alcaraz rediscovered his unique combination of speed, power and touch and figured out the subtleties of grass-court tennis in the nick of time.He clawed his way back into the match in an epic, 85-minute second set in which he was a point away from what figured to be an insurmountable two-set deficit.He seized control of the match midway through the third set, then teetered in the fourth set as Djokovic, Wimbledon’s four-time defending champion and seven-time winner, rediscovered the footwork that has long served as the foundation of his success.Djokovic is as dangerous a player as there has ever been when facing defeat, but Alcaraz rose once more to claim victory, 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, not only overcoming Djokovic’s endless skills and talents but breaking his spirit, too.When the momentum swung one last time, as Alcaraz cranked a backhand down the line to break Djokovic’s serve early in the fifth set, the Serb with the steely mind smashed his racket on the net post. A few points earlier, he had frittered away his chance to seize control, swinging at a floating forehand in the middle of the court and sending it into the net. Now, just a few minutes later, the thing that has so rarely happened to him in recent years — a loss to a relative newcomer on a grand stage, especially this grand stage — was happening.Last month, Djokovic, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, finally eclipsed his longtime rivals, Nadal and Federer. But this loss cost him a shot at one of the few prizes he has not achieved — becoming the first player since 1969 to achieve the Grand Slam in men’s singles, winning all four major tournaments in a single year. He was within one match of pulling off the feat two years ago. This time, at 36 years old, an age when most champions have retired to the broadcast booth, he was eight matches away.It seemed so close, but in the final game, Alcaraz showcased why everyone has been making such a fuss about him for so long. He finished Djokovic with his sexiest weapons — the silky drop shot, the artful topspin lob, a blasting serve and one last ripping forehand that Djokovic reached for but could not lift over the net.Alcaraz dropped to the ground and rolled on the grass, his hands over his face in disbelief. He hugged Djokovic at the net, shook hands with the umpire, picked up a loose ball from the grass and punted it into the crowd before heading into the stands to hug his parents and his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero.“Beating Novak at his best, in this stage, making history, being the guy to beat him after 10 years unbeaten on that court, is amazing for me,” Alcaraz said.After taking the champion’s trophy from Catherine, Princess of Wales, on a day that brought out A-list celebrities like the actors Brad Pitt, Daniel Craig, Emma Watson and Hugh Jackman and the singer Ariana Grande, he got to joke with King Felipe VI of Spain, who also watched the young Spanish player’s triumph.“Now that I won I hope you are coming to more of my matches,” Alcaraz said to the king.King Felipe VI of Spain was among those who watched Alcaraz’s triumph.Sebastien Bozon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesOne of Alcaraz’s many mentors, Nadal, the great Spanish player who had dethroned another Wimbledon icon, Federer, in 2008, wrote on social media that Alcaraz had brought “immense joy” to Spanish tennis.“A very strong hug, and enjoy the moment Champion!!!” wrote Nadal, who missed the tournament because of recent hip and abdominal surgery.The loss created a rare moment for Djokovic, who acknowledged that on this day at least he had lost to a better player.“A tough one to swallow,” Djokovic said of the loss. He then choked back tears as he looked at his son, who was smiling at him from a courtside seat. “Thank you for supporting me,” he told his family. “I will give you a big hug and we can all love each other.”On Saturday, Mats Wilander, the seven-time Grand Slam winner who is now one of the most respected voices in the sport, put Djokovic’s chances of beating Alcaraz and winning the four 2023 Grand Slam events at 90 percent.“He’s got too many weapons,” Wilander said. “He knows everything there is to know about the sport. He’s got it all down to a science. The opponents aren’t ready for him.”In the first minutes of Sunday’s final, Wilander looked prophetic. The most important men’s match on the tennis calendar looked like a contest between two players who had walked onto Centre Court under completely different circumstances.It was the usual July Sunday for Djokovic. But Alcaraz was playing in his first Wimbledon final, and that weight was made heavier after the stress-induced, full-body cramps he suffered during his semifinal showdown with Djokovic at the French Open last month. That had been the first major moment when Alcaraz, the top seed and the world No. 1, failed to live up to his hype.Sunday was different. But not at first.Alcaraz finished the match much stronger than he began.Clive Brunskill/Getty ImagesFrom the opening moments, Djokovic pinned Alcaraz in the back corner of the court with low slicing shots that made it impossible for Alcaraz to go on the attack. He crushed service returns, aiming at the brown patches of dirt at Alcaraz’s feet and sending him running backward.Djokovic was a set up before the match was a half-hour old but Alcaraz held a 2-0 lead in the second.Alcaraz’s chance to salvage his maiden Wimbledon final came down to a crucial tiebreaker at the end of an epic second set that lasted three times as long as the first one. Tiebreakers are Djokovic’s specialty. Entering the final, he had won 14 straight in Grand Slam matches.The moment brought out the best in both players — the big serves to the corners; nasty drop shots; crisp, point-saving winners with the opponent closing in at the net — and the packed crowd, with alternating chants of “Novak, Novak,” and “Carlos, Carlos” echoing around the Centre Court overhangs.And then just when it looked as if Djokovic was poised to grab a commanding two-set lead, he sent two backhands into the net to give Alcaraz a chance to draw even. Alcaraz then cracked a backhand return of Djokovic’s serve down the line to knot the match at a set each.Djokovic struggled against Alcaraz’s combination of power and speed and lost the second and third sets.Dylan Martinez/ReutersThe former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson once said that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.Alcaraz had landed a shot to Djokovic’s jaw, and Djokovic felt it. The third set became an array of Djokovic errors. He battled to regain a foothold in the match, never more so than a game midway through that went to 13 deuces, that ended with a Djokovic forehand into the net.As he usually does when he is down, Djokovic took a lengthy bathroom break before the fourth set. He splashes water on his face and talks to himself in the mirror. Usually, he emerges a different player, and Sunday was no different, as he seized the initiative once more, breaking Alcaraz’s serve midway through, getting back in his head and taking the set as Alcaraz, once more edgy and on the defensive, double-faulted.After nearly four hours, they were back where they started. Nearly five hours of drama would come down to a few moments.“He surprised me. He surprised everyone,” Djokovic said of Alcaraz, who, in his eyes, had taken elements of his style, Nadal’s and Federer’s and produced a prowess on grass — his grass! — far sooner than he expected. “I haven’t played a player like him, ever.”Alcaraz with his first Wimbledon trophy but probably not his last.Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press More

    • 125 Shares169 Views

      in Tennis

      Carlos Alcaraz Shows Novak Djokovic That His Championships Are Numbered

      by

      Djokovic had won the past three Grand Slams he played in to reach 23 major titles, but Alcaraz, Wimbledon’s newest singles champion, proved on Sunday he is not invincible.With the driving force of a forehand winner, Novak Djokovic slammed his racket into a net post, then quickly picked up the twisted wreckage and sat down. It was an uncharacteristic outburst of rage from the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, and it seemed to be about more than the point he had just lost.Djokovic, who fully expected to win Wimbledon on Sunday, and perhaps a few more times in the coming years, appeared to be gaining a realization in that moment: His singular dominance of the men’s tennis tour in recent years may be over.Carlos Alcaraz, the 20-year-old Spaniard, was demonstrating incredible mental strength and tennis skill in a five-set gem, and an enticing new rivalry was being born.“Ha, I hope so,” Djokovic, the 36-year-old Serb, said with a laugh. “For my sake. He’s going to be on the tour for quite some time. I don’t know how long I’ll be around.”Just when Djokovic had outlasted Roger Federer and peak Rafael Nadal, now he has to contend with a composed, talented and versatile young bull who has everything it takes to be one of the greats of the game.If a torch was not passed on Sunday, it was at least up for grabs.“Novak’s got someone to deal with now, for sure,” said Chris Evert, the 18-time Grand Slam singles champion, who watched from the royal box as Alcaraz beat Djokovic in an electrifying conclusion to Wimbledon. “It’s like when Steffi Graf came up and started beating me and Martina. We saw right away how good she was, and she went on to win more Slams than either of us.”From 1981 until 1986, Evert and Martina Navratilova, who was also in the royal box Sunday, won 18 of the 20 major titles, including a run of 15 in a row. Then Graf vanquished Navratilova in the 1987 French Open final and went on to win 22 major championships in all.Until Sunday, Djokovic seemed invincible in best-of-five-sets matches at Grand Slam tournaments and especially on Centre Court, where he had not lost in 10 years. With Federer retired and Nadal dealing with chronic injury problems at 37, one could have envisioned Djokovic vacuuming up several more trophies over the next few years while Alcaraz honed his game.It’s plenty honed.Alcaraz was known for being good on clay and hardcourts but he surprised Djokovic with his skill on grass.Isabel Infantes/EPA, via ShutterstockAlcaraz put it all on display in the 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 victory that gave him his first Wimbledon singles title and robbed Djokovic of the chance to win five Wimbledons in a row and a record-tying eighth for his career.Djokovic was also hoping — and was favored — to win his 24th major title, which would have tied Margaret Court for the most in a career and left just the U.S. Open later this summer to complete the Grand Slam. It all seemed virtually inevitable, but now he may have to recalibrate.“I haven’t played a player like him ever, to be honest,” Djokovic said. “Roger and Rafa have their own obvious strengths and weaknesses. Carlos is very complete player. Amazing adapting capabilities that I think are a key for longevity and for successful career on all surfaces.”Perhaps the reason for the racket slam, which Djokovic attributed to the frustration of the moment — Alcaraz had just broken his serve in the fifth — is because the Wimbledon grass was where Djokovic had hoped to enjoy a slight edge over his precocious new rival in the coming years.Alcaraz grew up playing mostly on clay, but he quickly adapted to hard courts and won the U.S. Open in September when he was only 19. Djokovic was absent from that event and Alcaraz’s victory came against Casper Ruud of Norway, who is a good player, but no Novak Djokovic.Now he has shown his mettle on grass, against the best players in the most prestigious tournament in the world. During an on-court ceremony after the match, Djokovic, who teared up when mentioning his son, graciously lauded Alcaraz. He noted that, yes, he knew Alcaraz would be an instant force on red clay and blue paint. Now, grass, too? Already?“I didn’t expect him to play so well this year on grass,” Djokovic said. “But he’s proven that he’s the best player in the world, no doubt. He’s playing some fantastic tennis on different surfaces and he deserves to be where he is.”Even before the racket smash, there was another extended moment when Djokovic might have gotten the signal that he was in for a challenging few years.With Djokovic serving at 1-3 in the third set, the two men played a 32-point game with 13 deuces that lasted over 26 minutes. Both players ran and dove and made amazing shots, and the spectators hollered in delight at the extraordinary play, and the guts on display.“The nerve Alcaraz showed was absolutely remarkable,” Evert said.Finally, after Djokovic hit a forehand into the net, Alcaraz had broken serve again. He put his finger to his ear, asking the crowd for more noise, and right there Djokovic had to know. For as many years as he can hang on, Alcaraz will probably be there, too, even on grass.“I think it’s good for the sport, 1 and 2 in the world facing each other in almost a five-hour, five-set thriller,” Djokovic said. “Couldn’t be better for our sport in general.” More

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Tennis

      Carlos Alcaraz Gets a Shot at Novak Djokovic in Wimbledon Singles Final

      by

      “For Novak, it is one more day, one more moment,” Alcaraz said of Sunday’s final. “For me, it’s going to be the best moment of my life, I think.”If Carlos Alcaraz were more patient, perhaps he could just wait for Novak Djokovic to fade away. At 20, Alcaraz is 16 years younger than the great champion, and the day is likely to come when Djokovic is either retired or in decline, and Alcaraz can claim the tennis kingdom as his own.But Alcaraz has never demonstrated an inclination to wait. When he won the United States Open in September at 19 years 129 days, he became the youngest male player to reach the No. 1 ranking, and he was the second youngest, after Pete Sampras at 19 years 28 days, to win that tournament in the Open era. Djokovic was absent from that event.Now, with one more win, he would become the fifth male player in the Open era to win more than one Grand Slam tournament title before his 21st birthday. What better way to do it than to grab it now, straight out of Djokovic’s steely grip? In boxing, it is said that to capture the crown, one must convincingly vanquish the champ, and Sunday’s Wimbledon men’s singles final could be the grass court equivalent of a 15-round heavyweight bout.It features a potentially riveting matchup between Alcaraz, who defeated Daniil Medvedev, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, in their semifinal on Friday, against Djokovic, who also dismissed Jannik Sinner in straight sets. It is No. 1 against No. 2 — the 23-time Grand Slam tournament winner, who is 7-1 in Wimbledon finals, against a young Spaniard playing in his first.It is also a network programmer’s dream, a premier matchup that will determine whether Djokovic will extend his record of 23 Grand Slam tournament titles by winning his fifth consecutive Wimbledon trophy, or whether the heavy-hitting newcomer overcomes past nerves to ascend the throne.Alcaraz with Russia’s Daniil Medvedev after their semifinal match on Friday.Dylan Martinez/ReutersAlcaraz wants it now, and he wants to do it against Djokovic with millions of people watching — not against a lesser-known player like Casper Ruud, his opponent in the U.S. Open final, which was a mostly one-sided affair.“It’s more special to play a final against a legend of our sport,” Alcaraz said. “If I win, it will be amazing for me, not only to win a Wimbledon title, but to do it against Novak. I always say, if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.”Alcaraz and Djokovic have met only twice on court, and each has won. Alcaraz took a best-of-three match on clay at the 2022 Madrid Masters. Djokovic’s victory was perhaps more telling. It was in a semifinal at the French Open last month, a match that included a second set of remarkable tennis. But then Alcaraz began to cramp up across his entire body. First it was assumed it was from heat or a lack of fluids. But Alcaraz admitted it was from nerves.He managed to play through it, but a match that had been developing into a classic soon deflated into a gentle cruise for Djokovic, who went on to win the French Open, his second major title of the year.“He does nothing wrong on the court,” Alcaraz said. “Physically he’s a beast. Mentally he’s a beast.”Alcaraz promised on Friday, after he had run Medvedev off the court, that he would employ brain exercises to cope with the pressure, and he did not fear a repeat of his last encounter with Djokovic. But when he walks into that Centre Court coliseum in front of an audience thirsting for some sort of history, all of the intellectual games and self-assuring mantras could be worthless, especially against a player of Djokovic’s talent, determination and experience.Sunday will be unlike anything Alcaraz has experienced, even in his one previous major final, against Ruud. Djokovic will be playing in his 35th major tournament final. In Alcaraz’s mind, Djokovic might as well be taking out the trash.“For Novak, it is one more day, one more moment,” Alcaraz said. “For me, it’s going to be the best moment of my life, I think.”“For Novak, it is one more day, one more moment,” Alcaraz said. “For me, it’s going to be the best moment of my life, I think.”Andrew Couldridge/ReutersOne element of intrigue goes back a few days, to when Alcaraz’s father was spotted videotaping Djokovic as he practiced. Alcaraz dismissed the notion that he could gain any competitive advantage from it. All the video evidence he needs of Djokovic’s tactics and tendencies is easily accessible from Djokovic’s eight previous Wimbledon finals, which were shown on television.When Alcaraz was asked about the matter at a news conference, it was presented as a gotcha moment. But he did not hide it.“Oh, probably it is true,” he said. “My father is a huge fan of tennis. He doesn’t only watch my matches. I think he get into the club at 11 a.m., get out at 10 p.m., watching matches, watching practice from everyone. Able to watch Djokovic in real life, yeah, probably it is true he filmed the sessions.”More important than the practice courts is what happens on Centre Court. Alcaraz certainly looked ready on Friday, using his combination of overwhelming forehand and deft backhand slices to outlast Medvedev, who has beaten both and has lost to both.“Interesting match,” Medvedev mused. “We cannot say who is going to win for sure.”We can say that the winner will be one of the two best in the world. More

    • 138 Shares169 Views

      in Tennis

      Djokovic to Face Alcaraz in Wimbledon Final After Easily Beating Sinner

      by

      The 23-time Grand Slam champion may have mellowed, but he is as determined as ever to win his favorite title again. He will play Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday.Six months ago, having just won the Australian Open one year after being deported from the country, Novak Djokovic collapsed in the arms of his family and his coaches in a moment of strained ecstasy.He had drawn even with Rafael Nadal in the race for most Grand Slam singles titles. When he finally took the lead last month, at the French Open, he fell onto his back in the red clay of Roland Garros and then called winning that tournament, his 23rd Grand Slam title, his version of scaling Mount Everest. He donned a warm-up jacket emblazoned with the No. 23 and jetted off to the Azores for a hiking vacation with his wife.To be in the presence of Djokovic these past two weeks is to be around someone who, at least when he is not working within the confines of the grass tennis court, is almost unrecognizable from his previous self. Gone is the pugnacious battler carrying around a career full of angst. His default facial expression, something like an inquisitive scowl, has been replaced with a relaxed grin.Walking on the streets of São Miguel or the grounds of the All England Club, from the practice courts to the locker room, he no longer stares mainly at the ground, moving purposefully past the passers-by. He stops and chats. He poses for a selfie and to sign an autograph. After a moderator cuts off his news conferences, he insists on sticking around for an extra question or two. When his day is done, he returns to the home he is renting close by for dinner with his wife and their young children.Djokovic signed autographs after his match.Neil Hall/EPA, via ShutterstockIt really is very good to be Novak Djokovic right now, and it got a little bit better on Friday. Djokovic easily handled Jannik Sinner, the rising Italian star who is supposed to be one of the special talents of the sport’s next generation, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4), setting up a men’s singles final showdown with Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday.The final point was a microcosm of the match and nearly all of Djokovic’s Grand Slam matches lately — a spirited rally in which Djokovic is thoroughly dialed in, ending with another opponent’s dreams crushed with a final backhand into the net.Cue Djokovic’s fist pump, his pounding the grass, his waves to the crowd.For the moment, he has stopped making declarations about Serbia’s long-running territorial conflict with Kosovo, inserting himself into a pitched and occasionally violent 700-year fight, or political battles over public health and personal freedom.Sure, the fans pull for his opponents, especially early on, when the beatings begin and perhaps some charity applause or any kind of support will extend the match a bit and bring a little more value to the Centre Court ticket that might have cost a week’s salary. Djokovic gets it. Just don’t do it when he’s about to serve or in the middle of the point.This was his 34th consecutive win at Wimbledon, and this one earned him a spot in Sunday’s final, a chance to win his fifth straight singles title here and to tie Roger Federer’s record eight singles titles.Jannik Sinner, the rising Italian star, lost to Djokovic in the semifinals.Alastair Grant/Associated Press“I still feel goose bumps and butterflies and nerves coming into every single match,” he said after his win on Friday. “I’m going to be coming into Sunday’s final like it’s my first, to be honest.”Djokovic is now eight matches from becoming the first man to win all four Grand Slam singles titles in the same calendar year since Rod Laver managed the feat in 1969.Is it possible for a best-of-five sets match to be over in the second game? With Djokovic on the court it is. That is how long it took for Djokovic to break Sinner’s serve. Sinner had a chance to forestall the inevitable outcome slightly in the fifth game, when, down by 3-1, he earned a chance to break Djokovic’s serve, but he sent his forehand just wide, and that was that.In his nearly 20-year career, Djokovic has lost just five times at a Grand Slam tournament after winning the first set, and just once after winning the first two. And all of that took place before he became this nearly invincible version of Djokovic.Another detail or two, if you are not convinced.There was a tense game early in the second set when Djokovic let out an extended roar after ripping a backhand down the line and the chair umpire penalized him by giving the point to Sinner because Djokovic was still yelling while Sinner was swinging. Djokovic was not happy about that, or with being called for taking too long to hit his serve a few moments later.He wandered behind the baseline to gather himself and control the frustration that would have boiled over and crippled a younger, more impetuous Djokovic. Then came some solid serves and crisp strokes, and the game was over.There was another moment of annoyance in the third set, after Sinner had raised his level of play, started whacking the ball through the court and ultimately earned two set points with Djokovic serving at 4-5, 15-40.Carlos Alcaraz will play Djokovic in the finals. “He’s young, he’s hungry — I’m hungry too,” Djokovic said. “Let’s have a feast.”Sebastien Bozon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDjokovic sent his first serve into the net and a few fans seated close by cheered. Another yelled, “Come on, Rafa!”Djokovic didn’t like any of it. He raised a sarcastic thumb in the air and shook his head, and then stared down the hecklers after he won the next point and the game. Eventually, there was a tiebreaker. Djokovic doesn’t lose tiebreakers, especially not when he is sliding into backhands and forcing his opponents to keep hitting one more shot, and then another, as he did against Sinner to climb back from a 3-1 deficit and win six of the next seven points.Djokovic has won six of the 11 Grand Slam tournaments since tennis returned from its Covid-19 break in 2020, but he has played in only eight of them. He missed two because of his refusal to be vaccinated against the virus and was defaulted from a third, the 2020 U.S. Open, when he accidentally hit a line judge with a ball he swatted in anger.More times than not, the only way to keep him from winning the most important titles in the sport is to keep him from competing.Federer is retired. Nadal is out indefinitely, recovering from hip and abdominal surgery. Andy Murray, a friend and boyhood rival from Djokovic’s teenage years in junior tennis, has a metal hip and can’t get past the first week of Grand Slams anymore.For 15 years, Djokovic dedicated his career to being better than them — not just for one match or one tournament, but forever.Now that his rivals are on their way out, Djokovic has gone on the hunt for new motivation. He has already largely vanquished one generation of future stars — Medvedev, Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov, who generally crumble against him in the Grand Slam events, half-beaten by his aura and his past domination of them before his first forehand sharply angles across the court.“In the pressure moments, he was playing very good, not missing,” Sinner said. “That’s him.”Now he has another Grand Slam title in his sights, and the 20-something upstarts want to topple him before he eventually exits the game. He doesn’t often speak of taking any special pleasure from beating players whose legs have so many fewer miles than his do, players who really should be sending off an opponent in the second half of his thirties. But he did just that, briefly, earlier in the week, after beating Rublev, who is 25 and put up a solid effort in the quarterfinals, losing in four sets.“They want to win, but it ain’t happening still,” Djokovic said on the court when it was over.Now comes Alcaraz for the second time in five weeks. In the French Open semifinal, an overstressed Alcaraz suffered nearly paralyzing full-body cramps.Now, the 20-year-old Spanish star, the only player younger than 27 with a Grand Slam title, gets another chance against an even more relaxed Djokovic, playing his ninth Wimbledon final. Alcaraz has played only 12 matches at Wimbledon in his life.“He’s young, he’s hungry — I’m hungry too,” Djokovic said. “Let’s have a feast.” More