People—tomorrow—Breakfast at Wimbledon—epic, epic, epic—
37 years old vs. 21 years old—
The guy with the best resumé in tennis history against a kid of college age who is going for his fourth major championship—as many or more as some Hall of Famers (Jack Kramer, Guillermo Vilas, Arthur Ashe, Jim Courier) have in their entire careers.
Djokovic is going for his 25th major, which would break his tie with Margaret Court for most majors by a singles player all-time, and his eighth Wimbledon singles title, which would tie Roger Federer for most ever. Yet this is his first final of 2024.
It's a rematch: Alcaraz won last year, at age 20—
It's the most expensive sporting event in history. Any sport. $10,600 for the cheapest TickPick ticket that will get you in the door today.
If you watch only one tennis match this year, today's the day—!
Mike
UPDATE: I've opened the comments again. I know a lot of you were much more concerned with the biennial [CORRECTION: It happens every four years, in between World Cups] Euro 2024 Final today. What a glorious day for Spain and Spanish sports—congratulations to any Spaniards in our audience. Must have been great fun. And condolences to those in Britain. [CORRECTION: to the fans and followers of whatever country, area, region, realm, state, or entity that lost, whoever they are. They know.]
In contrast to last year, which was a tight, close, and long match, Carlos Alcaraz calmly wiped Centre Court with Novak Djokovic in a dominating straight-sets win that took only two hours and 28 minutes, in contrast to four hours and 42 minutes a year ago. Only the third set was close as the aging champion struggled to stay alive. Carlos squandered several match points yet recovered his equilibrium to triumph in the tiebreaker, not losing his composure or backing down.
If you don't watch tennis, try this short video compilation of highlights from last year's U.S. Open for a taste of what all the fuss is about. The kid is amazing.
A few changes after Carlos Alcaraz's win:
- He is now 4–0 in major championship finals. That's second-best only to Roger Federer, who started his career 7–0 in major finals, a mark that is likely to last forever.
- His record is 6–0 against top-5 opponents in 2024.
- He is one of only five men in the open era (since 1968) to achieve the notoriously difficult channel double, meaning winning the French on clay followed closely by a victory at Wimbledon on grass.
- He's the youngest man ever to win the channel double. H was already the youngest man ever to win majors on all three surfaces—hard court, grass, and clay.
- Today he become one of only nine men in the open era (and the first Spaniard) to win Wimbledon twice or more in succession (the record, held jointly by Bjorn Borg and Roger Federer, is five in a row).
For a bonus, he has either three or four years left to win an Australian Open and become the youngest man ever to win the "career grand slam," meaning all four major championships across a career, which only five male players have ever achieved. (He hasn't done this one yet; just thought I'd throw it in.)
Oddly, when the new rankings come out, despite the fact that Alcaraz has won the last two major championships and Djokovic hasn't won a single tournament all year, Alcaraz will remain third in the rankings, behind Djokovic. Seems a little...off.
Hope you had a nice Sunday, whatever you watched!
Original contents copyright 2024 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)
Featured Comments from:
s.wolters: "The Difference between the UK, Great Britain & England Explained. Thirteen years old, needs an update, but still funny...."
Mike replies: Thanks for that link! I was looking for that. I even posted it on the blog years ago. So funny that he has to talk so fast. It does need updating now (naturally!), but you're right, it's still a YouTube classic.
Sean: "To illustrate the rivalry between Scotland and England: the editor of a Scottish newspaper has been forced to apologise for what some consider to be xenophobic stereotyping of England fans on their front page."
Nah, I'll rather watch the infinitely more interesting last stage of Giro d'Italia Women where Lotte Kopecky is trailing Elisa Longo Borghini by just one second. Forget Lemond winning over Fignon by 8s in the '89 Tour after a time trial, this will be a mountain finish, all the way to the line, last woman standing.
Posted by: J | Saturday, 13 July 2024 at 10:50 PM
Who cares? It's 48 million Spaniards vs 56 million Englishmen today!
[What, is there a war happening that I haven't heard about?
Or a cricket match or something? --Mike]
Posted by: s.wolters | Saturday, 13 July 2024 at 11:26 PM
Did you know that the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club - who organise the Wimbledon tournament - operate a ballot system for tickets? You can enter the ballot and, if you're very lucky, you might be drawn so that you can buy a pair of tickets at the regular price. You can't choose which day you want, or which court, it's random - you have as much chance of getting tickets for Day 1 as for Men's Final Day. But a work colleague of mine once got tickets through the ballot for Men's Final day (Djokovic vs. Nadal, it turned out), which he bought (of course!) at the official price. This year the official price for Centre Court on Men's Final day - i.e., today - is £275 per ticket. Call it $350, or $700 for the pair.
Posted by: Tom Burke | Sunday, 14 July 2024 at 02:47 AM
Where on earth did you get that price from? Most of the final tickets are allocated by ballot and cost £275 this year.
[That's a "get-in" price and the souce appears to be TickPick, a ticket trading marketplace. --Mike]
Posted by: Andrew B | Sunday, 14 July 2024 at 07:38 AM
Mike,
I am watching what you are watching. At this very moment.
And I can see an amazing amount of mutual respect amid the rivalry.
Oh boy, if only politics could be like this...
JTK
[Except I can't watch it. I don't have cable or broadcast television and I don't subscribe to any service that carries it. In fact I wouldn't even know how. All I get to watch is the highlights afterwards.
Don't tell me who won! --Mike]
Posted by: JTK | Sunday, 14 July 2024 at 09:10 AM
Not everyone in 'Britain' is bothered that England lost.....
Posted by: Richard Tugwell | Monday, 15 July 2024 at 01:13 AM
You probably mean 'condolences for those in ENGLAND'.... those in Scotland and Wales may well have been cheering for Spain. (And Northern Ireland isn't actually in Britain - it's in the UK but not Britain.)
It's the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 'Great Britain' (a geographer's term, not a political one) includes England, Scotland and Wales. 'British' therefore includes all of those nationalities, and is indeed often used as a substitute for 'citizen of the UK'. However when it comes to sport, the English, the Scots and the Welsh are definitely separate nations. (Allegedly the UK media referred to Andy Murray, a Scot, as 'British' when he won and Scottish when he lost!)
Posted by: Tom Burke | Monday, 15 July 2024 at 02:25 AM
Mike…VERY important clarification.
Britain didn’t lose the final of the Euros to Spain, ENGLAND lost…and I’d say most people from other British nations, Wales and Scotland are happy about it.
Also the Euros is not biennial, but every 4 years, like the World Cup, only 2 years out of sync from it.
Love the blog!
[The only rule that holds: no matter what I ever call anything over there, I'm always wrong. --Mike]
Posted by: JoshG | Monday, 15 July 2024 at 04:14 AM
tour de france, anyone?
Posted by: Sebastian Broll | Monday, 15 July 2024 at 04:32 AM
Condolences to England fans. Yes, we’re all British, but we're rival football nations, so most of The Scots and the Welsh will be cheering at Spain’s Victory over England.
I know even less about tennis than you know about football. Tennis, to me, is the Polo of two-legged sports
Posted by: Sean | Monday, 15 July 2024 at 04:42 AM
For future reference you might want to look into a free YouTube TV trial when a major sporting event like this arrives. It's what I plan on doing for the Olympics.
Posted by: David Maxwell | Monday, 15 July 2024 at 07:27 AM
The fact that Djokovic was even able to play just a month after knee surgery, let alone make the Finals, is remarkable (literally).
Posted by: Jeff | Monday, 15 July 2024 at 09:33 AM
Watching the match, I wondered if for casual viewers the imbalance between the two players would obscure the fact that both of them were playing at extremely high levels.
I enjoyed seeing Alcaraz's feats of skill and athleticism, but I enjoyed the tennis in the women's semifinals more. That kind of sums up why I prefer to watch women's tennis over men's these days. Those semifinals were terrific contests, both went the distance, and both were part of cinderella stories of a kind, resulting in two first-time Wimbledon finalists.
Women's tennis these days routinely surprises me. Eight different women have won the last eight Wimbledon Championships. Meanwhile, four men hogged the men's trophy for 20 years, until Alcaraz won it last year, and for people who'd been following the game that was not really a surprise.
The women's final didn't live up to the quality and excitement of the semis though. It was good enough, and see-sawed as well, but only rarely did both players find their best form at the same time.
Posted by: robert e | Monday, 15 July 2024 at 04:57 PM
Hi Mike,
I've been surprised that there's been scant mention of Carlitos' chance to win the so-called "non-calendar slam" - the four major championships consecutively, but not all in the same calendar year. A tall order for any player but as you correctly point out, he's already done the hardest part of it by winning in Paris and London back-to-back, and given his prowess on hard courts, I wouldn't count him out!
Can't wait for the U.S. Open :-)
Cheers!
Dan
Posted by: Dan Gorman | Monday, 15 July 2024 at 05:12 PM
@David
I'm going with Peacock TV for the Olympics, as they promise to stream every event. There's no free trial, but it's only $6/month. (There's no reason to spring for the ad-free tier, since live events have ads on both tiers.) Bonus: many of the best comedy shows of all time.
Posted by: robert e | Monday, 15 July 2024 at 05:13 PM
My two sons is now in Scotlands and with an English mum, try to avoid going to the pub to avoid they cheer for Spain! And O la O la O la when England lost, as the man did since 1966!!! Sigh
Posted by: Dennis Ng | Tuesday, 16 July 2024 at 05:41 PM
If you really want to not feel any suspense or excitement, try listening to the [world]football coverage on BBC radio. !
Posted by: Keith B. | Wednesday, 17 July 2024 at 01:23 AM
I think the writing is on the wall for Djokovic. Incredible as he is, I will be surprised to see him win another major title for 25. Sinner and Alcaraz are just better. What a difference a year makes. Tough to compare generations of any sport. The game is simply not the same. It does not, however, take away what these guys can do on the court. The grass is slower and the clay is faster and has been for the better part of two plus decades. The "all court" game dominated by baseline play could never have won Wimbledon back a few generations. Just ask Ivan Lendl. If you were not a top notch serve and volley player, you had no chance of winning the tournament at the All England Club. Perhaps Borg would be the outlier here but he could serve and volley quite well.
Posted by: Paul | Thursday, 18 July 2024 at 05:50 PM