Djokovic Should Have Won Wimbledon

Ten days ago, millions of people including myself watched one of the greatest Wimbledon finals in a very long time. It consisted of Novak Djokovic against Carlos Alcaraz. It is safe to say that the former was an established grass court player, going for his record tying 8th Wimbledon title, as well as his fifth in a row. What’s more, a win on July 16th would give him his 24th major title, putting him one step away from the Calendar Grand Slam. On the other hand, Alcaraz had barely found his way on grass, only being his fourth ever tournament on the fast surface. He had gotten his hopes up by winning at Queen’s three weeks earlier.

In my mind, there was only one clear conclusion to the Championships: Djokovic lifting the gold trophy. However, it was the complete opposite. Thus, in today’s article, we will discuss how that trophy is now in the wrong hands.

Disgrace To Tradition

I want to start off with something that irked me. So I watched the entire match, and out of curiosity, I flipped over to the Tennis Channel. The Wimbledon match here in the United States was covered by ESPN, and to my shock, what did the Tennis Channel show during one of the greatest matches ever? They showed pickleball.

When I tuned into the Tennis Channel to maybe catch a post-match analysis by Andy Roddick, who I really enjoy listening to, but too much shock there it was the PPA, the Professional Pickleball Association.

It makes zero sense to show pickleball on the Tennis Channel. If you showed it in the middle of the night, 2 am, I would say okay, fine. But to cover pickleball during The Wimbledon final makes even less sense.

So, I don't think that the Tennis Channel realizes that there's a large amount of tennis players who absolutely despise pickleball. There have been three New York Times articles that I've read on the war between tennis and pickleball.

And look, I'm a huge Tennis Channel fan. I not only pay for it with a subscription, but I also have Tennis Channel Plus, and I do think it's a great product. I enjoy it very much. And it would be nice if pickleball could be shown on the pickleball channel.

Gracious Loser

Let's talk about the Wimbledon final. I want to tell you a few more things about Djokovic, things that I've been observing for a long time, things that were evident in the match.

One thing that always amazes me about Djokovic when I watch them lose these tough battles and really important stages of big tournaments against Nadal, for example, or even against Federer, is how gracious of a loser he is and how big of a sportsman he is.

He never says anything bad about an opponent, there's always a warm embrace at the net, and people don't give Djokovic enough credit because of his sportsmanship.

I'm not sure if Djokovic received a fair play award from the ATP, but he definitely deserves one.

Ignoring The Crowd

Another thing that amazes me about Djokovic is how he performs when the crowd is against him. So obviously, the two favorite players of all time are Federer and Nadal, and he had to fight against crowds who were against him throughout his entire career.

You would think now that Nadal is injured and Federer is retired, that the crowd would be for Djokovic. But no, the crowd continues to be against him in these big matches, and they were definitely against him in the match against Alcaraz as well.

Not only does this not bother Djokovic, but he draws inspiration and motivation from the crowd being against him. I cannot tell you how impressive of a mental skill that is.

Just think of basketball when teams go on the road, how tough it is to win, and that's a team sport. I imagine in tennis, you're out there by yourself, and the entire crowd is cheering your opponent's name.

Many players would crumble under that, but Djokovic doesn't, and it's something that I've never seen in professional tennis.

Age Is Just A Number

Something that we always tend to forget is that Djokovic is 36 years old, but he's playing like 26. He himself said, "36 is the new 26."

If you take a look at his results this year, he's won two slams. He was on his way to win the Grand Slam this year, and he was so close to winning the final, despite the fact that he was not at his best.

An Unusual Performance

Now, I've watched Djokovic enough to know what his top level is, and Sunday was absolutely not Djokovic's top level.

Despite that fact, he still almost managed to win. He came out in the first set, and Alcaraz was possibly a little bit nervous, and Djokovic won the set 6-1.

Then Alcaraz started playing a lot better, broke him, and Djokovic did this classic instant re-break. T he match was pretty even until the tie break, and Djokovic was up late in the tie break.

Then uncharacteristically, he missed two easy backhands in a row, something that you never see from Djokovic. Another thing that happened that's very uncharacteristic is that after he lost the second set tie break, he went on to lose the third set 6-1.

This is not something that happens very often with Djokovic. Normally when he loses a tough set, he's right back at it in the following set, and most of the time comes out as the winner.

In the fifth set, Djokovic fought hard, but Alcaraz just simply outplayed him, and you can see the frustration in Djokovic's mannerisms. At one point in the fifth set, he even broke his racket on the net post. Hence, he later kept shaking his right wrist in Alcaraz’s service game.

Positivity On Court

Carlos Alcaraz. What can I say? I don't want to bore you with things you've heard; newspapers are filled with stories about Alcaraz, so you already know how good of a player he is.

Even Djokovic himself said that he is the complete package, having something of each of the Big Three. It's hard to imagine that somebody can play tennis better than Alcaraz does.

One thing that stands out to me about Alcaraz, and that differentiates him from the Big Three or really anybody else, is his body language. The great coach Ricardo Piatti described professional tennis as suffering.

Not only physical but also mental suffering, and you can see it in players like Nadal and Djokovic, how much they suffer during the match.

However, when I watch Alcaraz, I don't see any suffering at all. What I see when I watch him play tennis is pure joy. He is interacting with the crowd, often has a smile on his face, and it simply looks like he's having fun out there.

The Future GOAT?

Yesterday, I was reading how Alcaraz is going to break all the records. They claim he'll win 30 Grand Slams, even 50 Grand Slams.

While I think it's plausible that he could break some records, we need to consider how challenging it will be. Alcaraz has great potential and capabilities to become one of the greatest players of all time, but we must put it into context.

Currently, Alcaraz has two Grand Slams, 12 titles, and four Masters titles. Expectations can create additional pressure, and the media is already hyping him up. However, it's just the beginning of his career.

Djokovic, on the other hand, is still going strong and is more than capable of breaking more records. He can continue to win Grand Slam tournaments and Masters titles.

Furthermore, Nadal is training again and might be coming back later this year. He remains a formidable opponent, and nobody likes facing his powerful lefty topspin forehand, regardless of his age.

Let's not be too quick to proclaim Alcaraz as the new GOAT. He's certainly talented, but there's a long way to go in his career.

Final Thoughts

Something that people rarely understand is that Alcaraz is truly one of my favorites. Perhaps not as much as Nole, though. However, I am extremely happy to have Alcaraz. The reason why I'm so happy about Alcaraz is that the future of tennis is in good hands. People used to say that tennis really wasn't in good hands. We would see pickleball blowing up and the big three retiring, something that scares people a lot.

But now, I see that we have a player who is simply spectacular, and it's going to be a joy watching him play in the coming years. Truly inspiring!