A beaming Carlos Alcaraz described Wimbledon as a “dream come true” after he beat Novak Djokovic in a gripping five-set final on Sunday.
The 20-year-old Spaniard, who became the third-youngest man to win the title after Boris Becker and Björn Borg, said he never expected to win the title so soon in his career
“It’s a dream come true for me,” Alcaraz said, after a 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 victory that took almost five hours. “It’s great to win but even if I had lost I would have been really proud of myself for this amazing run, making history, playing in the final of this amazing tournament against a legend of our sport, it’s amazing, a dream come true.
“For a boy of 20 years old, I didn’t expect to reach this stage so fast. I’m very proud of myself and my team. I am falling in love with grass right now.”
Alcaraz said he had given himself a talking-to after a first set in which he won just one game. “After the first set I thought, Carlos, raise your level, or everybody would be disappointed,” he told the crowd.
“You helped a lot. I’m really proud to play in front of royalty…and Felipe [the king of Spain]. Felipe, you watched me twice and I won, I hope you come more.”
As the title winner, Alcaraz will become an honorary member of the All England Club and he said he was looking forward to coming back to Wimbledon outside of Championships time, though he will make sure he remembers his membership badge, unlike Roger Federer, who was initially refused entry at Wimbledon a couple of months ago.
“It’s great to be a member of this iconic club,” he said. “I have to remember the card, I saw Roger Federer struggling to get in so I will make sure I remember the card.”
Djokovic had a point to lead by two sets to love and then, in the final set, missed a break point that would have put him up 2-0, eventually missing out on what would have been a record-equalling eighth men’s title and record-equalling 24th grand slam title overall.
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“I would say tie-break in the second,” he said. “The backhands kind of let me down, to be honest. Set point, I missed the backhand. I should not have missed that shot. Some regrets. I had my chances. I think I could have closed out that second-set tie-breaker better. But credit to him for fighting and showing some incredible defensive skills, passing shots that got him the break in the fifth. He was a deserved winner today, no doubt.”
The Serb said he had been impressed by Alcaraz’s maturity under pressure. “Amazing poise in the important moment,” he said.
“For someone of his age to handle the nerves like this, be playing attacking tennis, and to close out the match the way he did … I thought I returned very well that last game, but he was just coming up with some amazing, amazing shots.”