“I must be very honest. I didn’t think I would be standing in a closing ceremony of a grand slam once again.”
It begged the question of retirement, something he looked ready to hint at before pulling his line.
Because Jannik Sinner has four grand slam titles, and has shared all slam titles for the past two years with Alcaraz, it is irresistible to bracket them together. But this might be unkind to Alcaraz.
Alcaraz is the world No.1. He has seven open titles to Sinner’s four. He has also beaten Sinner seven of the past 10 times they have played. There is a sense Alcaraz might not only be catching the titans of the sport but moving away from his peers.
He might be compared to Sinner. Historically, the career numbers might favour Djokovic. But by winning this title at his age, Alcaraz became the youngest man to win a career Grand Slam or to reach seven grand slam victories.
It isn’t for him to put his victory in historic perspective, but Nadal’s paternal presence in the stands gave both players an idea of the occasion.
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“For me it’s an honour watching you play,” Alcaraz said to Djokovic.
And to Rafa: “It’s a little bit weird seeing Rafa in the stands, this is the first time, I think, professionally. I know you were watching when I was 14 or 15. It such an honour playing in front of you.
“It’s a great feeling completing a Grand Slam it was something on my mind … it’s a dream come true.”
He noted tennis’s beauty, but it is also relentlessness, which is what makes it difficult for him to pause to contemplate his place in history.
“I know I am doing history with some trophies [and] tournaments … it’s an honour to put my name on the history books.”
“It is always a pleasure to share a court with him (Djokovic) … I have huge respect to him as an athlete.”
Putting the generational shift aside, this match was reminiscent of Nadal finally prevailing over Roger Federer on grass at Wimbledon in 2008.
That was the moment Nadal breached Federer’s last hold-out. This was the moment Alcaraz added the last of the slams that evaded him and cracked Djokovic’s hold-out, the place where he still could not be beaten (in a final at least).
Alcaraz had won on a hard court before – twice winning the US Open – but this is a different type of slam. The surface is the same, but the conditions are not. There is the early season searing heat, the cold, the wind and rain. And that’s just one day. There is bushfire smoke that chokes the city on a distressingly annual basis.
Each year the tournament congratulates itself on record crowds – 1.35million turned out this year. But it was a vexed record this year, with more people in the grounds than seats, long queues snaking around stadia.
Many, like the thousands in Garden Square on Sunday night in Serbian flags, remain happy to pay to be close to where the tennis is, even if they don’t see it live.
It’s a tournament that now figures itself as big as the Super Bowl for global audience – Craig Tiley said that – and seeks to expand like a version of Disneyland on the Yarra, annexing the south side of Olympic Boulevard (this might be the moment Eddie McGuire self-combusts, or returns to the Collingwood presidency) and now planing for a glass sphere. Next will be a court played on a lasagne.
Before the tournament Djokovic sent Alcaraz a text asking for royalties after the Spaniard nicked his serving style. There were then moments when Alcaraz nicked Djokovic’s entire game.
World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz showed his athleticism to overcome Novak Djokovic after losing the first set.Credit: AP
When Djokovic won the first set it posed the tantalising question of whether the most prolific grand slam winner of all time had a 25th title in him.
But Alcaraz’s precocious talent belies a maturity that enabled him to settle his game after that early stumble, calm his adrenalin and grind where his natural tendency favoured the expansive and aggressive. His game might be simplified – without wishing to be uncharitable – to out-Djokovic-ing Djokovic.
On one occasion, Djokovic went around the net rather than over it, but still couldn’t find a way past Alcaraz. Another time, the Serb finessed a cross-court drop shot that would beat every other player cold. Alcaraz got it back. He slid in and flicked the ball to the back court. Djokovic could but smile and hold a thumbs up. If he needed the money, or could ask for more royalties, he’d make a claim on this point alone.
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By admitting on court at match’s end that even he had doubted he would be here again on the final night of a grand slam tournament. Djokovic begged the question of how long he will keep going. If you have changed everything else about your calendar to try to win another title, but even you doubt you can make the final night again, then how long do you keep doing it?
Asked by Serbian media post match about his plans to play on, Djokovic expressed more uncertainty. “I don’t know if I’ll see them [the Australian crowd] face to face or not … I’m not pretending, I’m not twisting things … I said it as it is. I said that I would like to play in the 2028 Olympics, that maybe means that I can go to one tournament a year, maybe 10, maybe 15, maybe two. I don’t want to make decisions for so far away.”
So his playing future will remain a question for another day. The question for now is whether he was beaten by the man who will one day overtake him? That is not implausible. It might even be inevitable.
