Alcaraz, the prince of tennis, could redefine the pinnacle of the sport

I have been playing tennis since the age of 14. In more than half of my 36 years in the game, since Roger Federer’s first Wimbledon title in 2003, three men have dominated tennis like never before in its history. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have since won 65 of a possible 79 Grand Slam tournaments together. Since then, he has held the No. 1 spot for an astonishing 900 weeks out of a possible 1,000. In 2005, Nadal was the first Federer challenger to appear on the scene. The sheer fight that Nadal brought to tennis forced both Federer and him to elevate their game to a level beyond the reach of other ATP Tour players. For smaller players like me, this inspired me to adopt Nadal’s signature Babolat gear on the court. Just as we tennis fans thought we had seen it all, 2011 brought a new and improved Djokovic. This ushered in an era of incredible tennis innovation. Season after season, the three outdo each other to redefine peak tennis. Along the way, several youngsters and renewed veterans do everything possible to challenge the reign of the trio through incredible grit and sparks of talent. They also managed to steal a few trophies here and there. But the combined might of Roger, Rafa and Djokovic sent most of these challengers into retirement, injury or oblivion.

Sunday’s Wimbledon final changed everything. Carlos Alcatraz not only announced his entry into that exclusive club, but he broke down the door as soon as he entered. Within minutes of her win, all my messaging groups were flooded with exaggerations on the 20-year-old’s drop shots, slices, serves and more. Technical characteristics became the reason for his victory. Unfortunately, those analyzes reflect only his training, not the character behind the young man.

This is not the first time that Djokovic has been beaten in a Slam final by a player outside the 3-member GOAT (Greatest of All Time) club. Soon after scoring three consecutive slams that year, he lost in straight sets to Daniil Medvedev in the final of the US Open 2021. He has also previously lost to Wawrinka and the much hyped Andy Murray. But Djokovic’s loss to Alcaraz on Sunday was different. Earlier in June, in the French Open semifinals, the new Wimbledon champion could not handle the pressure exerted by Djokovic. Tanghal Alcaraz lost to Djokovic in 4 sets. Were his tennis skills that low a few weeks ago? Or did his rival suffer a dramatic decline in the weeks leading up to the championship?

Most top-level professional tennis is played in the mind. The difference in skill, strength, stamina and agility between the top 20 ranked players is quite small and negligible among the top 5. If skill difference was everything, then Alcaraz should have crushed every player in every set he played, even in the 26th set. Nicolas was replaced by Jarry who put up a good fight in the third round. What really separates the great players from the rest is their mind. It is their insatiable hunger that never wants to score even a single point, no matter how much effort it takes. They use each lost point as a training guide for their next match. Following his semi-final loss to Djokovic at the French Open, Alcaraz admitted he was nervous from the start. The intensity of the first two sets caused her playing hand to cramp. The pressure of performing well on big occasions strikes fear in all of us. Even at Roland Garros, Djokovic’s reputation prevented Alcaraz from pushing himself. He had put in so much effort in the first two sets that his physical reserves were exhausted and he more or less gave up. Djokovic has had this effect on dozens of opponents before.

Alcaraz displayed a great example of mind over matter by defeating Djokovic on Center Court at Wimbledon. Within weeks of his previous defeat, he had learned how to take on the best without damaging his reputation. The mental duel between the two players was clearly visible in the score of the match. Till the beginning of the third set, the match proceeded exactly like the previous set. But this time, Alcaraz was not ready to give up. Both players were level in the fifth, with Djokovic hitting a drive volley on break point. In that case most other people would have lofted that ball high and hit regulation ground strokes. But Djokovic is not ‘most others’. It seems his mind is unable to tell the difference between big stage and small stage, while he is making bold choices. That one point helped Alcaraz not only hold his serve, but also see himself as the champion of the day with his behavior. Djokovic’s mental-reset racket smash came too late.

The Djokovic team will surely analyze every aspect of Alcaraz’s victory and come back with counters for their next meeting. But I’m really looking forward to 2011 re-starting the era of tennis innovation. Finally, Carlos Alcaraz has officially taken over the role that Nadal, Federer and Novak played in propelling each other and redefining top tennis.

Updated: July 20, 2023, 08:57 PM IST