As we all suspected, Wimbledon will get the men’s final the tournament and the fans deserve. The championship will get a decider that two players among the 128 who set out a fortnight ago believed was in their gift if they played to their potential and ranking.
Novak Djokovic, the world No 2 (for the moment), delivered the first part of the deal by systematically breaking down the precocious challenge of the young Italian Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4) in two hours and 47 minutes. He was followed on to Centre Court by the youngest No 1 in the history of tennis, the 20-year-old Spaniard, Carlos Alcaraz, who made even shorter work of Daniil Medvedev in three embarrassingly one-sided sets.
Djokovic – reaching for his eighth title here to draw alongside Roger Federer and a record 24th career major – will be the bookmakers’ favourite.
Alcaraz, though, is already the darling of those lucky enough to beg, borrow or steal a ticket for entry into the game’s grandest theatre, not to mention an audience of millions beyond.
For a while near the end of the first semi-final on Friday, Djokovic faltered but he gathered his resources in the same clinical manner he has done all his career. The 36-year-old Serb has more gears than a tank and, when needed, he found them.
“He proved why he is one of the players of the next generation and one of the best players in the world,” he said courtside. “I’d like to believe I’m playing some of my best tennis ever. I try not to think about the age. I feel a lot of motivation. I want to return the favour to this sport and play as much as I possibly can.”
Later he observed: “Each set was closer than it appeared on the scoreboard. I think I found the right shots at the right time, especially towards the end of the match. But the job is not finished until I lift the trophy.”
Last year, Sinner, 15 years younger than Djokovic, led by two sets in the quarter-finals before the defending champion saw him off and went on to win his fourth Wimbledon title in a row. History can be as cruel or comforting as it is undeniable.
There was a stretch – between 2005, as a young pup, and 2021, as the seasoned lone wolf – when Djokovic went behind in grand slam matches 73 times. He prevailed in 36 of them, mostly when under the most intense scrutiny. It was as if he invited the trauma that came with the prospect of losing so he could embrace the warm balm of victory more completely, especially against the best players the sport has ever brought together at one time.
Post-Covid, Djokovic’s resolve grew as he eyed greatness measured by different standards, and he gave up early leads just five times in four slams, going on to win all of them.
Yet, as his peers began to fall away, even he wondered how long he could remain interested. First to go was Federer. Then, as recently as May, after Rafael Nadal revealed 2024 would be his farewell season, Djokovic said he felt “a part of me would leave with him too”.
That has all changed. After many years of downplaying his pursuit of records, glory is what keeps Djokovic going. “It’s all about the slams,” he said, as he eased past the others to 23 majors. Now he is in a different jungle, always the hunted, never the hunter. Here, only the seventh seed Andrey Rublev led him, briefly, in the quarter-finals.
“They want to get a scalp, but it ain’t happening,” Djokovic said of the gathering pack, after sweeping away the Russian in four quick sets.
Sinner provided a more nuanced challenge but Djokovic saved three break points without fuss in the first set, and needed just the one opening to go ahead. He continued to unpick Sinner’s game with calm authority, moving him about the court with killer forehands, floating drop shots and pinpoint aces.
At 15-all in the fourth game of the second set, however, the chair chided Djokovic for shouting out – “hindrance”, as it is called – after he hit a backhand. He looked distinctly unloved and lost the point. “It has never happened to me before,” he said later. “I thought it was wrong.”
Again Sinner’s arm trembled on break point, and Djokovic pushed on from 3-1 up. Sinner had been reminded of exactly who he was playing and where: a driven genius who had not lost on this court since Andy Murray beat him in the final 10 years ago. Centre Court is his manor now.
So, could Sinner, two sets down, do what Djokovic had done all his career (including against him), and ignore a scoreboard that screamed doom? He insisted later: “Regardless of the score, I felt like I was [closer] this year than last year. I felt also the level was better.” Towards the end, it was.
But this was a more gruelling examination of his pedigree and determination. The net was an occasional impediment and the moist grass made him slip and growl. Compounding his discomfort, 78 or so feet away was the best returner in the game, one win away from the final.
He had to save another three break points to stay ahead and, at the start of the fifth game, Djokovic finished a perfect 14-shot rally with a drop shot that might have tested the patience of a saint. Sinner hung on for 3-2.
There were increasing glimpses of quality resistance– a passing shot in the eighth game, and a 100mph cross-court forehand in the ninth being particularly memorable. Then Sinner grabbed two set points. Briefly rattled by the crowd’s negativity, Djokovic (who mockingly applauded them for their interruption of his serve) paused, drew breath and held with a controlled volley.
He stayed in the set with a forehand that painted the line, but they went to the shootout with Sinner in marginally better shape. There would be no denying the great survivor, though. Djokovic rubbed his eyes as if bothered by hay fever and steeled himself for the finish.
A fist-pump followed a smash at 4-3 and he was jubilant after forcing a final error from his disappointed young foe. For another day, at least, he could say with conviction: “It ain’t happening.”
