A ‘match of the century’ has been set up between the ‘flawless technician’ Novak Djokovic (36, Serbia, World No. 2) and the ‘next great ace’ Carlos Alcaraz (20, Spain, World No. 1).
Alcaraz defeated Danil Medvedev (27, Russia, World No. 3) 3-0 (6-3 6-3 6-3) in the men’s singles semi-finals of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships 2023 on Centre Court at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, England, on Friday.
Alcaraz reached the Wimbledon final for the first time. He won the US Open last year and will be looking for his second Grand Slam title.
Both Alcaraz and Medvedev have won five titles on the men’s ATP Tour this year. They met in the semi-finals of Wimbledon, where they are both on a winning streak. It was expected to be a close match, but Alcaraz won in straight sets. With an advantage in attack and defence, match play and error fighting, Alcaraz eased past Medvedev to reach the final.
Alkalas looked to be on course for victory in the third set when he took a 3-0 lead, but Medvedev did not give up easily and rallied back to 2-3. Alkalas, however, held on to win the next two games to see off Medvedev’s challenge. Alkalas then took the third set 6-3 to book his place in the final.
Earlier, in the men’s singles semi-final, Djokovic defeated Yannick Saina (22, Italy, World No. 8) 3-0 (6-3 6-4 7-6<7-4>).
Djokovic is now on the Wimbledon final court for the ninth time. Roger Federer (42, Switzerland) is the most decorated men’s singles finalist at the tournament with 12. Djokovic reached his first final in 2011, defeating Rafael Nadal (37, Spain) to claim his first title. He also reached the final in 2013, but had to settle for runner-up honours after losing to Andy Murray (36, Great Britain, World No. 40).
However, in 2014 and 2015, they won back-to-back titles. In 2018, 2019, 2021 and last year, they won four consecutive titles. The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This year, Djokovic is back in the final for a fifth consecutive title. Only tennis legend Björn Borg (Sweden, 2976-1980) and Federer (2003-2007) have won five consecutive titles at Wimbledon. He is also the most decorated men’s singles champion of all time with eight titles.
The most decorated Wimbledon champion in both men’s and women’s singles is Martina Navratilova (66, Czech Republic-USA), who has won the title nine times.
She has also won 24 Grand Slam titles, the most in men’s tennis history. Djokovic, who is on course for a long list of milestones, met Cilic on the threshold of the final.
Thiem came from behind to beat Djokovic 2-3 (7-5 6-2 3-6 2-6 2-6) in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon last year. At the time, Thiem appeared to have the ‘big fish’ in the bag, taking the first and second sets, but Djokovic, never one to falter in crunch time, rallied to take the rest of the match.
Reunited with Djokovic for the first time in a year in the Wimbledon quarter-finals, Thiem was looking for revenge but was unable to break through as Djokovic put in an impeccable performance.
Djokovic broke first at 1-0 in the first set. He held his next service game to extend his lead to 3-0. Thiem rallied late, but was unable to close the gap. Dominating the groundstroke battle and defence, Djokovic took the first set 6-3.
Djokovic’s momentum continued in the second set. He broke once again at 1-1. In the fourth game, Thiem also had a break opportunity but was unable to capitalise. Djokovic saved the break and held the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. Djokovic defended this lead until the end of the set and took the second set 6-4.
The third set was a one-break battle. Thiem had a chance to break back with a 5-4 lead, but Djokovic saved his 10th game on serve to break back to 5-5. He then held both of his own service games and the match went to a 6-6 tiebreak.
Djokovic, who had been through the wringer on the court, was unflappable in the decider. At the start of the tiebreak, Djokovic was down 1-3. However, he scored back-to-back points to turn the tide and extend his Wimbledon winning streak to 34, having won all six of his tiebreaks in the tournament.
The eagerly anticipated ‘Final of the Century’ between Djokovic and Alcaraz will take place on the night of the 16th.
Their head-to-head record is 1-1. Alcaraz came from behind to beat Djokovic 2-1 (6-7<5-7> 7-5 7-6<7-5>) in the semi-finals of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 Series Madrid Open in May last year. Last month, in the semi-finals of the French Open, Djokovic won 3-1 (6-3 5-7 6-1 6-1).
The winner of this Wimbledon final will retain or regain the world number one ranking 토토사이트추천.
Meanwhile, TV channels SPOTV and SPOTV ON, as well as sports OTT service SPOTV NOW, will broadcast the Wimbledon Men’s and Women’s Singles Finals live via satellite. It will also be broadcast live on SPOTV ASIA. SPOTV Asia is broadcast in 13 countries across the Southeast Asian region and offers a wide range of content including the tennis Grand Slam events Wimbledon and the US Open, the men’s professional tennis ATP Tour, motorcycle racing event MotoGP, World Table Tennis (WTT) table tennis events, World Badminton Federation (BWF) badminton events and the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Sport Climbing World Cup.