- Carlos Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic in five thrilling sets to win Wimbledon for the first time.
- It was the first clear sign that the torch has been passed in men's tennis.
Welcome to The Carlos Alcaraz Era.
We all knew The Big 3 Era of men's tennis was nearing the end, but few could have predicted that it would have been so symbolically sent out to pasture on Wimbledon's grass court. In front of royalty and a TV audience of millions, Alcaraz defeated the youngest of tennis' Big 3 — Novak Djokovic — on Sunday in a thrilling five-set match.
Alcaraz, whom many assumed would be a clay-court specialist early in his career like fellow countryman and Big 3 member Rafael Nadal, has now won two majors — one on grass and one on a hard court at last year's US Open. and perhaps the eyebrow raising part of Sunday's win was the fact that the 20-year-old Spaniard bested Djokovic at the elder player's own game. Alcaraz won with speed, clever shots in the biggest moments, and an unbreakable endurance in a 5-hour match on the biggest stage.
Does this mean we have entered a new era of men's tennis? Consider the following:
- Alcaraz has won two of the last four Grand Slams on his weaker surfaces.
- This was Djoker's first Wimbledon loss since 2017.
- Alcaraz is the first person outside of Djokovic, Nadal, Roger Federer, or Andy Murray to win the Wimbledon men's title in 21 years.
- He also became the youngest player to win Wimbledon since Boris Becker in 1986.
- The Big 3 now: Federer (20 Grand Slam titles) is now retired, Nadal (22) is oft-injured and expected to retire next year, and Djokovic, the greatest winner in any sport since Michael Jordan, is 36.
Djoker is not going anywhere yet and probably has some Grand Slams still to win. But even he seemed surprised by how quickly Alcaraz became an all-around-great player, repeatedly using the term "amazing" to describe the performance.
"I thought I would have trouble with you only on clay, and maybe hard court, but not on grass," Djokovic told Alcaraz after the match. "But now, it's a different story from this year, obviously. Congrats. Amazing. Way to adapt to the surface."
Now that The Big 3 era is dead and Alcaraz has arrived, the only thing left is whether anybody else will step up and join him for the next 15 years.
Until then, let's hope we just get a few more Alcaraz-Djokovic finals.