A month after their final at Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic has given Carlos Alcaraz a taste of his own medicine after another blistering final in the Cincinnati Masters 1000. The number 2 in the world beat the number 1 after 3 exciting sets and match points for both: 5-7, 7-6 (9/7) and 7-6 (7/4). “I take my hat off to Alcaraz, what he can do at his age,” Djokovic praised.
Watch some highlights from the party
This contains embedded content from a social media network that wants to write or read cookies (Twitter). You have not given permission for this.
Click here to still allow this
The two tenors of men’s tennis – two generations too – once again made it a pleasant spectacle of no less than 3 hours and 49 minutes, the longest best-of-3 final on the ATP Tour. In the first set, 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz had the upper hand.
Although it was Novak Djokovic who took care of the first break – on love. But the Spaniard raised his level, served better (11 aces), immediately took the rebreak and broke again a little later, for 7-5.
It was hard against soft, with clearly more winners for Alcaraz (42 against 28), although he also made a few more mistakes (22-20). He led 3-1 after a break, but Djokovic did not let himself be known and took his moments perfectly.
He forced a tiebreak, saved his skin at a match point against at 6/5 and forced a deciding set.
The stars got a bit tired, Alcaraz the most. He hit no fewer than 5 double faults in the final set and also had to allow 13 break opportunities. Djokovic could only redeem one of them in the seventh game and ran 3-5.
That gave the Serb 2 match balls on Alcaraz’s service and another 2 on his own service. But the number 1 found a hole somewhere and escaped.
A tiebreak decided the match, it remained the same until 4/4, but then the spring was really broken at Alcaraz: 4/7. The 5th match ball was the good one. Alcaraz hit out.
Djokovic was so happy after the heroic victory that he ripped his shirt to pieces and cried out in bare bark. He still counts.
2-2
It is Djokovic’s fourth tournament win of the season. Earlier this year he won in Adelaide and brought a 22nd and 23rd grand slam title to his palmares with the Australian Open and Roland Garros, which now boasts a total of 95 titles.
In the mutual confrontations between the best two players at the moment, it is now 2-2. Alcaraz won last year in the semifinals of the clay tournament in Madrid 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) and this year in the Wimbledon final 1-6, 7-6 ( 8/6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. At Roland Garros, Djokovic kept the young Spaniard out of the final 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
“I haven’t played many matches like this in my life,” Djokovic said after the final. “I compare them to my final against Rafael Nadal at the 2012 Australian Open.” Then he beat that other Spanish topper after 5 hours and 53 minutes, in 5 sets that is.
“I take my hat off to this lad. He plays so maturely and handles the pressure very well for a 20-year-old. We can’t forget how young he is, that makes it just as impressive.”
“When I play against Alcaraz, it feels a bit like I’m back against Nadal in our glory years. Every point is a fight. You have to earn every point, every blow.”
Will it be Alcaraz’s turn again at the US Open? “It’s nice to hear things like that from Novak, who has played iconic matches. That means my team and I are doing a good job and are on the right track.”
In the ATP ranking, Djokovic is within 20 points of Alcaraz.
2023-08-21 05:41:16
#Novak #Djokovic #revenge #Carlos #Alcaraz #epic #final #tears #shirt #pieces
