Defending Champ Carlos Alcaraz Returns To Wimbledon Final

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz is back in the Wimbledon final — and he is headed for a delicious rematch with rival Novak Djokovic.

The No. 3 seed took out No. 5 Daniil Medvedev, 6-7(1), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, for the second straight year in the semifinals to advance to Sunday’s championship match. Alcaraz improved to 17-2 for his career at Wimbledon.

Alcaraz, who has won 13 straight matches at Wimbledon and 13 straight major matches including his title at the French Open, will face 24-time major champion and No. 2 Djokovic, who beat No. 25 Lorenzo Musetti in straight sets.

Alcaraz leads Djokovic 3-2, including last year’s Wimbledon final.

“I feel like I’m not new anymore,” Alcaraz said of returning to the final. “I feel like I know how I’m going to feel before the final, I’ve been in this position before. I will try to do the things that I think won last year and try to be better and try obviously to do the things that went well.

“It’s going to be obviously a really good day for Spanish people as well [with the UEFA
iShares MSCI EAFE ETF
Euro final]. I didn’t say Spain’s going to win, I’m just saying that it’s going to be a really fun day but obviously it’s going to be a really difficult match. Lorenzo and Djokovic are playing great tennis, I’m going to watch the match and let’s see against someone I’m going to play on Sunday.”

Alcaraz, a three-time major champion, improved to 5-2 against Medvedev, whose lone career Grand Slam title came at the 2021 U.S. Open.

Alcaraz broke the Russian on 6-of-15 chances, while Medvedev was 3-of-3 on break chances.

“He can do it all,” Medvedev said of Alcaraz. “… Probably in my career, he’s the toughest opponent I’ve faced’

Asked how he compares to the ‘Big 3’ of Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, Medvedev added: “The thing is I played the Big 3 when they were let’s call it ‘old’ or over 30. It’s a bit different. They’re all different. All different in their own way, in their game. I feel like you can’t even take something from one and compare it to another because Roger plays on the line. He hits his beautiful technique, shots, goes to the net. Novak plays also on the line but completely different. Amazing defense, like a pinball player where the ball comes back so fast at you. Rafa is completely different. He can stand 10 meters behind but he’s gonna run to every ball… banana shot… lefty.

“I don’t think Carlos has anything from them. It’s a different game style. I think where Carlos is different from many players.. we all have our preferences. Some prefer defense, some prefer counter attack, some prefer to be super aggressive. He can do all of it. He can sometimes slice.. Even a bad slice, & then run and try to win like this. Many times when guys do this, you can hit an easy shot back and they don’t want to attack. But that’s not Carlos. If you give him an easy shot, you know it’s over for you. That’s what makes it tough. Probably in my career, he’s the toughest opponent I have faced. But I have time to try to do better.”

Things started out well for Medvedev. He broke Alcaraz at love for 3-1 in the first set when the Spaniard sailed a forehand wide.

Alcaraz struggled with his serve early and Medvedev broke again for a 4-2 lead.

But while serving for the first set at 5-3, 30-40, Medvedev came close to being defaulted when he cursed out the chair umpire while disputing a not-up call. She also discussed it with the tournament director.

Medvedev dominated the tiebreak en route to a one-set lead, taking it with a service winner.

After Alcaraz took the second set, he earned a break for 2-1 in the third when Medvedev curled a forehand wide.

Alcaraz continued to improve his serve through the third set en route to a two-sets-to-one lead.

Alcaraz broke early in the fourth for a 1-0 lead with a massive forehand crosscourt winner.

After giving the break back, Alcaraz broke for 4-3 when Medvedev reached for a two-handed backhand and sailed it long.

Serving for the match at 5-4, Alcaraz hit a service winner toward the doubles alley to bring himself to match point at 40-30.

On match point, he hit a forehand winner that Medvedev returned wide. And the two men met at the net before Alcaraz clapped to the crowd.

“I’m really happy about my performance today,” Alcaraz said on court. “I started really, really nervous. I think he was dominating the match, playing great tennis with his serves, his return game. It was difficult for me but I tried to pull out all the nerves at the beginning of the second set.

“After that, I could play my own game, I could enjoy a little bit more the match…I think in general I played a really good match.”