Key events
My eyes may be getting a little damp as the BBC shows a montage of Andy Murray’s farewell ceremony last week. And speaking of great Brits, after Henry Patten’s brilliant victory with Finland’s Harri Heliovaara in the men’s doubles final yesterday (and big congratulations to Patten’s coach Calvin Betton, a friend of this blog), Alfie Hewett has today won that elusive men’s wheelchair singles title, defeating Spain’s Martin de la Puente 6-2, 6-3. It completes a career grand slam in singles and doubles for the 26-year-old, who lost in the final in 2022 and 2023.
HEWETT COMPLETES THE SET 🫶 🔥
Alfie Hewett is now a singles and doubles champion at all four Grand Slams, defeating Martin De La Puente 6-2, 6-3 to win the Gentlemen’s Wheelchair singles title for the first time 🇬🇧#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/Y36ZuyhFkz
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 14, 2024
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Preamble
At the start of this Wimbledon the scene appeared set. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, the undisputed leaders of the new generation, would meet in the semi-finals, which would be the de facto final, because who from the other half of the draw could really trouble them in the final? Almost certainly not 37-year-old Novak Djokovic, only weeks after knee surgery.
But it didn’t quite turn out that way. An ailing Sinner lost to Daniil Medvedev in the last eight and Alcaraz, having defeated Medvedev, now faces a Djokovic who very much looks in the mood to match Roger Federer’s eight Wimbledon men’s titles and stretch ahead of Margaret Court with a record 25th grand slam singles title. We should have known that writing off Djokovic was stupid. Proving doubters wrong is what he’s done his whole career and there was no way he was going to let the small matter of surgery get in the way of his bid for undisputed GOAT-ness.
But then Alcaraz, just 21, is like three GOATs rolled into one, with his Djokovic-like movement, Nadal-like fight and Federer-like shot-making – and with three grand slam titles already on three different surfaces he’s achieved something they hadn’t at his age. Alcaraz defeated Djokovic over five absorbing sets in last year’s Wimbledon final and, having won Roland Garros last month, is going for a French Open-Wimbledon double – another feat Djokovic, Nadal and Federer didn’t pull off until later in their careers. He’s the new superstar whom tennis needed to take over from the Big Three; the Spaniard who will have Centre Court on his side this afternoon despite his country facing England later in the Euro 2024 final; and the youngster, all smiles and easy-going warmth, who is already more adored at Wimbledon than Djokovic has ever been.
For Djokovic that lack of love from many has hurt during his career and maybe it still does; perhaps that’s why he called out the crowd during Ruuuuune/Boooooo-gate on Monday. Or perhaps it was a sign he doesn’t care so much these days about winning fans over and that the gloves are off in his fight for tennis history.
“I’m aware that Roger holds eight Wimbledons [and] I hold seven,” Djokovic says. “History is on the line. Also, the 25th potential grand slam. Of course, it serves as a great motivation. I will try to use that as a fuel to play my best tennis.”
And if he achieves that unrivalled GOAT-ness today, would he trade in any of those titles for a bit more love? I doubt it.
Play begins at: 2pm BST. Don’t be late!