Novak Djokovic praised his conqueror Carlos Alcaraz after the final of the 136th All England Championships in Wimbledon.
He has “never” played against someone like Alcaraz, the Spaniard combines the skills of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic himself, said the Serb. Alcaraz has “the best of three worlds”, but above all this “Spanish bullfighting mentality”.
He was particularly impressed by the strength he thought he had exclusively so far, said Djokovic after the 4:42 6: 1, 6: 7 (6: 8), 1: 6, 6: 3, 4: 6: “My personal strength is that I can adapt. So can he.” With the exception of Alcaraz, he has never seen this in any other player, emphasized the 36-year-old Serb, who is known for quickly coming to terms with his opponents and other circumstances.
Djokovic admitted that he was particularly surprised at how quickly Alcaraz found his way around the lawn. Up until this year, the 20-year-old Spaniard had only played twice on grass at Wimbledon, before even winning the dress rehearsal at London’s Queen’s Club ahead of this year’s tournament: “Very impressive, I didn’t expect him to do so well this year playing grass.”
Alcaraz is currently the “best player in the world” and he has “everything for a long career on all surfaces,” emphasized Djokovic. At the same time, however, he expressed the hope that the Wimbledon final, the third duel between the two, would be “the beginning of a great rivalry”. “I hope we play against each other at the US Open too, it’s good when number one and number two duel in an almost five-hour thriller.”
2023-07-16 21:26:01
#Wimbledon #Novak #Djokovic #raves #Carlos #Alcaraz #bullfighting #mentality
