So Novak Djokovic was denied a chance to expand his overall lead in Grand Slam titles yesterday, as young Carlos Alvaraz managed to hold him off in a very tight, five set masterpiece on Centre Court at Wimbledon.
Alvaraz is one of the young guns in men's tennis. Yet, he seems to be outdoing himself for somebody so young. He proved very mentally tough against arguably the toughest man mentally in tennis history when he struggled past Novak Djokovic yesterday in a tough five-setter. Ultimately, he outlasted the legend, earning a tough five-set victory 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.
The young Spaniard had entered the match as the number one ranked man, although Djokovic was hot on his heels and looking to recapture the number one ranking, as well as what would have been a record 24th career Grand Slam title overall, and what would have been a record tying 8th Wimbledon title. But Alvaraz proved that he is number one for a reason, winning his second career Grand Slam title, following up on his remarkable US Open run last fall, which helped propel him to the number one ranking, which he managed to hang onto for the year end number on ranking.
Still, Djokovic nevertheless added to his overall legacy with this tournament. This was the 35th time that Djokovic has qualified for a Grand Slam Men's Singles Final. Overall, he has won 23 of them, and lost 12 times. Compare that to Federer, who reached 31 Grand Slam Finals and won 20 of them, and Nadal, who reached 30 Grand Slam Finals and won 22 of them. This was Djokovic's ninth appearance in the Wimbledon Final. He had won seven times previously, and was hoping to tie Federer's record of eight career Wimbledon titles overall. Incredibly, Djokovic has reached each of the Grand Slam Finals at least seven times each, and has won each of them at least three times each. All of those are easily records.
Djokovic has held the number one ranking for a total of 389 weeks, and may someday become the first player to reach 400 weeks total with the number one ranking. It still feels to me like he will someday add to his record amount of elite tennis trophies. I have a hard time believing that this defeat, painful as it may have been, and perhaps indicative of a changing of the guard in men's tennis, will be how Djokovic finally goes out.
Nevertheless, yesterday's match ultimately belonged to Alvarez. He solidified his case as the top man in tennis by following up his US Open title last year with this year's Wimbledon. And he certainly had to beat the very best in order to do it. What a win!
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