Carlos Alvaraz Winning Wimbledon Marks 1st New Champion Outside of "Big Four" In Over Two Decades

Last Sunday, Carlos Alvaraz defeated Novak Djokovic in a tough classic five-set victory 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.

I reviewed this on Monday, of course. Yet I did not quite realize just how much history was made on that day, in a strange, unconventional way. 

You see, Wimbledon has been won by one of the "Big Four" in men's tennis dating back to Roger Federer winning Wimbledon for the first time in 2003. Indeed, the last time somebody other than one of the "Big Four" has actually taken the Men's Singles title at Wimbledon was Lleyton Hewitt, back in 2002. After losing the 2001 US Open Men's Final to Hewitt, Pete Sampras had suggested that Hewitt was the new champion likely to dominate the sport for quite a while. When he won Wimbledon in 2002, this indeed looked like a distinct possibility. And Hewitt did end both 2001 and 2002 as the world's number one ranked man in tennis. But we would soon find out that this new era would be dominated by other names, and not by Hewitt.

Since then until this past Sunday, the Wimbledon Men's singles title has been won by a total of four men: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Federer won it from 2003-2007, and again won it in 2009, 2012, and 2017. Nadal broke through by beating Federer in that legendary final in 2008, widely considered by many the greatest tennis match ever. Nadal also won it in 2010. Djokovic won it in 2011, 2014 - 2015, 2018-19, and 2021 and 2022, and Murray won it in 2013 and 2016. 

As much as the "Big Four" (particularly the "Big Three" in particular) dominated the sport for the past two decades or so their dominance was nowhere as glaringly obvious as at Wimbledon. It might not have happened very often, but other men have broken through for Grand Slam titles at the other tournaments during that time. Stan Wawrinka won the Australian Open title in 2014, the French Open in 2015, and the US Open in 2016. Marat Safin won the Australian Open in 2005. Juan Del Portro broke through in 2009 by winning the US Open. Marin Čilić won the US Open in 2014, and Dominic Thiem won it in 2020. 

There were other champions at each of the other Grand Slam events outside of the "Big Four." It might have been rare, but it did happen. Wimbledon was the only one where no one outside of the "Big Four" had won in two full decades. No other tournament so exclusively seemed to belong to the men belonging to the "Big Four." So Alvaraz winning truly did seem to mark a symbolic changing of the guard.

The young Spaniard made history. He might have kicked down the door, and we may be seeing the beginning of an entirely new era in men's tennis.