Carlos Alcaraz of Spain defeated Novak Djokovic in a thrilling match to win the Wimbledon men’s singles championship for the first time.
The 20-year-old overcame a shaky beginning to defeat the defending champion by scores of 1-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 3-6 6-4.
Alcaraz won Wimbledon’s third-youngest men’s title, a second major for him after winning the US Open last year.
The outcome will also lead to hysterical conjecture about the beginning of a generational change, with 36-year-old Djokovic taking up the ‘Big Three’ mantle now that Roger Federer is retired and Rafael Nadal is possibly out of commission for good.
Djokovic, who won the Australian Open and the French Open, was aiming to surpass Margaret Court’s record of 24 Slams, tie Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon victories, and become the All England Club’s oldest male champion.
Alcaraz was still three months away from becoming five years old when he captured his first major title at the Australian Open in 2008.
“You inspire me a lot,” Alcaraz told Djokovic after becoming the third Spanish winner of the title, following in the footsteps of Manuel Santana in 1966 and Nadal in 2008 and 2010.
“I started playing tennis watching you. Since I was born you were already winning tournaments. It is amazing,” he added with a smile after firing 66 winners past the Serb, off-setting his 45 unforced errors.
Djokovic was competing in his ninth Wimbledon final and 35th major final, while Alcaraz was competing in just his second Slam final after winning the US Open.
“What a quality at the end of the match when you had to serve it out,” said Djokovic, who had been chasing a fifth successive Wimbledon crown.
The Serb entered the Wimbledon final with a 34-match winning streak and has not dropped a set on Centre Court since losing the 2013 championship match to Andy Murray.
Alcaraz struggled to settle in the first set and allowed a break point to slip away in the seven-minute opening game. Alcaraz had been plagued by abdominal cramps during his loss to Djokovic in the French Open semi-final in June.
Before the Spaniard could respond, Djokovic pounced on the opportunity and quickly built a 5-0 lead thanks to a double break. It was too late; Djokovic had already won the first set with a smash.
But in the second set, Alcaraz broke to take a 2-1 lead and finally broke free.
In the next game, Djokovic immediately answered. Then, in the fourth game, he saved a break point and won after a 29-shot rally.
Before a set point was saved in the tie-break, the Serb received a time violation.
When Alcaraz created and won a set point to tie the match with a backhand winner, he didn’t require a second invitation.
As Djokovic’s streak of 15 straight major championship tie-break victories came to an end, the marathon set had gone 85 minutes.
Alcaraz broke in the third set’s opening game and again after a grueling 26-minute fifth game that went to 13 deuces and saw Djokovic repel six break points before finally giving up on the seventh.
Alcaraz followed it up with a lightning-quick service game that, by contrast, took just two minutes, broke again against the defeated defending champion, and extended his lead to two sets to one.
As a result of Alcaraz’s ninth double fault of the championship match, Djokovic broke twice in the fourth set to tie the match.
However, Djokovic blew a crucial opportunity to break for 2-0 in the decisive set with a careless smash, and Alcaraz made up for it by breaking for 2-1.
Before he fell behind 3-1, a disgruntled Djokovic received another penalty violation for smashing his racket into the net post.
Alcaraz was unstoppable and won the match famously when Djokovic’s forehand sailed into the net.
