The desire for someone to step up, challenge and defenestrate Novak Djokovic seems written into the walls and the lawns of this place.
The sentiment was certainly there up on the packed hill, in the afternoon heat, where hundreds took some delight in watching the defending champion drop a set on the big screens.
It was on this court, too, when the evening sun came out and the pretender to his title set out to maintain a course towards that endgame.
Thousands are willing Carlos Alcaraz on because he creates an emotional response that Djokovic simply does not and there are good omens.
There were certainly signs of how the Spaniard has bloomed, in the course of a year, as he gradually mastered and neutralised Marco Berrettini’s serve, though there was also evidence of why Djokovic will be the favourite if they do meet, four days from now. Alcaraz is learning. That much was clear last night.
Carlos Alcaraz reached the quarter-finals of the men’s singles at Wimbledon on Monday
He faced a tough test from Italian Matteo Berrettini but completed the job under the roof
Berrettini took the first set but the world No 1 bounced back to move a step closer to a showdown with Novak Djokovic
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You imagined that boy from Murcia would be going at Berrettini like a train from the off, manoeuvring the Italian around the court and prodding at the doubts which has been at the surface of his game after a wretched string of injuries.
This was an opponent, after all, who departed the court in tears after a first-round defeat in Stuttgart a month ago and declared he was still working ‘day by day.’
But the first set had Alcaraz doing much of the chasing and struggling to contend with the bumper Berrettini serves which ratcheted up to 130, 131 and 133mph.
In the heat of those first exchanges, the drop shot which has become a signature of the Spaniard’s game was inconsistent. Some of the forehands which are his prime weapon were overhit.
Had injuries not afflicted Berrettini, the 27-year-old might have been one of Djokovic’s prime contenders by now. He certainly seemed to be heading that way after winning the Queen’s tournament last summer and as the sunshine bathed this court, we were briefly reminded why.
It was a meeting of equals for a time. Berrettini brought Alcaraz outside the umpire’s chair with a cross-court shot which Alcaraz met, trading an angular return into court. Liquid tennis. Every inch of the court’s width used. Alcaraz was an individual lost in his thoughts as he returned to seat after losing the first set.
What then ensued was testament to the way his game has evolved in the year since his game evaporated here in the face of the tall, rake-like big-hitter Jannik Sinner.
Alcaraz navigated more of the booming serves back, playing himself into the rallies on Berrettini’s serve, and located more of his own vast forehands to win in four sets, in a little more than two and half hours.
Berrettini may have become one of Novak Djokovic’s main contenders if it weren’t for injuries
In Alcaraz’s press conference last night, the focus was on what happens next: a match on Wednesday against the Dane Holger Dune, which will be the first Wimbledon quarter final in the Open era contested by two under-21s.
The two are friends, who played as a doubles pair as 14-year-olds, Rune on the backhand side, Alcaraz forehand, reflecting what remain their strongest weapons.
But more significant than teenage connections, going further back to them competing as 12-year-olds in a Tennis Europe event in Mallorca, is whether either can challenge Wimbledon’s Emperor.
Asked where he felt his game had improved in on grass in the past year, Alcaraz replied: ‘The movement. The confidence. On grass, that is really, really important.’
He looked nervy at key moments, particularly when needing to put away break points, converting just one from ten before an 11th which secured him the third set. At times, he deployed the drop shot when the forehand was most needed whilst advancing to his first Wimbledon quarter final.
Three days ago, we had two of the old stagers – Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka facing each other here. Now we have two 20-year-olds, Alcaraz and Holger Dune, the youngest Wimbledon quarter final joint participants in the Open era.
Those yearning for a new champion can only hope that Alcaraz has learnt enough in a short time. It will be a title for the ages of he can travel all the way and win.
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