Wouldn’t it be fun to just stay on this level for a while?
Third-seeded Alcaraz and fifth-seeded Medvedev put together 2 hours 55 minutes of riveting tennis in which each tried to coax the most gasp-inducing shot out of the other. But against Alcaraz, that tends to be a losing strategy: He beat the Russian in the semifinals for the second straight year, 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
With the win, he becomes just the second Spanish man in history to reach the Wimbledon final more than once, after Rafael Nadal, who lifted the trophy here in 2008 and 2010 and was the runner-up in 2006, 2007 and 2011.
But it might not serve Alcaraz to remind the crowd too much of his roots Sunday. Hours after the men’s singles final gets underway, England will face Spain in the final of the Euro 2024 soccer tournament. Alcaraz has been texting with members of La Roja before his matches and made the unintended gaffe of predicting Sunday will be “a good day for the Spanish people” in his on-court interview Friday.
It was the only time this tournament the charismatic Alcaraz has drawn boos on Centre Court.
“I didn’t say Spain is going to win,” he said, laughing. “I just said it’s going to be a really fun day!”
Fun for Alcaraz and probably everyone watching the match, too. Djokovic, the second seed, defeated 22-year-old Italian Lorenzo Musetti, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, in the second semifinal and returns to Sunday’s final for a redo of last year’s championship match that Alcaraz won in five white-knuckle sets over nearly five hours.
While Alcaraz looks to defend his title and claim his fourth Grand Slam trophy, Djokovic is aiming for history in his 37th major final and 10th final at Wimbledon.
A win here would give him his 25th Grand Slam title and put him in sole position of the record. The Serb is tied with Margaret Court at 24 major singles titles, though Court won most of hers before the start of the Open era in 1968.
It is improbable enough that he even has the opportunity to collect another title here. Djokovic, 37, had surgery June 5 to repair the medial meniscus in his knee that he tore during the French Open.
“I wasn’t sure until three, four days before the tournament whether I’m going to take part in it. Made an extra effort to recover as quickly as possible just because it was Wimbledon,” Djokovic said. “So I’m really, really happy to make the finals because I was not thinking about, particularly in the first couple of matches, of the eventual title match. I was just thinking about moving well, not injuring myself, to be honest, and feeling more free, so to say, in my movement.”
Alcaraz was more certain of his own potential. He went into Friday’s match with positive memories of this stage from last year and a 4-2 record over his fellow Grand Slam winner — Medvedev triumphed at the 2021 U.S. Open and was looking for another chance to claim his second major title after falling in the final of the Australian Open in January.
Medvedev opened the match with a set reminding fans that, before Alcaraz came along with his preternatural mastery of seemingly every shot in the book, it was Medvedev who thrived by keeping opponents guessing.
When he’s at his best, the Russian makes use of every inch of a tennis court: where he positions himself, how he moves and where he places the ball. Constant change is his strength, and he seemed at the outset to relish the challenge of forcing Alcaraz to mutate point by point, as if to make him prove how deep his bag of tricks really is.
The only issue: Playing that way is exhausting. And unlike most opponents, Medvedev said, Alcaraz gets a racket on nearly every ball. Not being able to hit pure winners makes for an insecure player.
“The more your opponent hits a great shot or I hit a great shot against Carlos, and then suddenly you receive a passing shot [on the return], you’re going to try to hit it better,” Medvedev said. “You’re going to doubt — am I going to go to the net or not? I remember there was particularly one, I hit a good smash, and he still made it. I had a very easy volley, but I overplayed it just a little bit. Yeah, because you are always questioning what’s the best shot, do I go almost for the line or not? It’s not easy to play such players.”
Alcaraz fought back from 3-5 down to force a tiebreaker in the first set, the first five points of which Medvedev won with wicked returns and impeccable shot-making that included digging out a groundstroke on a ball Alcaraz had placed practically on his shoelaces.
Alcaraz won his only point of the tiebreaker with a 133-mph serve, but he was undeterred. Medvedev’s level dipped just enough in the second set for Alcaraz to break his serve twice for a 4-1 lead, then Alcaraz won the second and third sets in straightforward fashion as the crowd settled in and the match turned from stunning to predictable.
“The reality is that he is also very strong physically. So even today when there were a couple of tough points and maybe I could have lost my breath a little bit and maybe dropped my level — it always drops by 2 percent when you play a tough opponent — and usually against other opponents maybe their level drops by 5 percent,” Medvedev said. “Carlos doesn’t drop his level.”
Alcaraz won the fourth set in much the same manner after breaking Medvedev at 3-3 when the Russian sent a backhand long. He held serve from there and later found himself back in a familiar spot — facing down Djokovic, Wimbledon’s final boss.