Over to you then, Carlos. Across almost five hours of mind-bendingly fine grass court play, seasoned with cussedness, crowd-snark and some wonderfully fine champion will, the future of men's tennis became the present too. It felt fitting that end note of a beautifully high grade men's Wimbledon final was also unexpectedly tender.
As Carlos Alcaraz crumpled on to his back on the Centre Court turf, Novak Djokovic walked across and hugged him, looking, for the first time since the first set four hours ago, back when the world was still young, like the only real grown up court. Ten years in the making, Djokovic had at least finally given the Centre Court what it wanted. Specifically, a defeat. But what a defeat this was, or rather what a victory for Alcaraz, who was simply sublime here.
It is genuinely rare in sport to witness such an obvious meeting of grand talents heading in opposite directions, one somewhere close to the end, the other just stepping out of the doors and on to the surface of the moon. The changing of the guard stuff, the GOAT versus the kid, has followed both players through the draw.
But if Djokovic did look below his best here at times, it would be wrong to attribute this to declining powers.
The real cause, the real story was a brilliant display of champion nerve, and intuitive learning on the job from Alcaraz, who began the match looking callow and rushed, and ended in a rich seam of balletic, creative, endlessly varied grass court tennis.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 17, 2023 من The Guardian.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 17, 2023 من The Guardian.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
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