The gentlemen’s singles final will be played Sunday on Centre Court at The Championships, Wimbledon.
Novak Djokovic is playing for more history on Day 14 at SW19. The four-time defending champion would join Bjorn Borg and Roger Federer as the only men in the Open Era to win this tournament five years in a row. In his 71st Major appearance, he’s into his 35th Major final, the most all-time by a man or woman. That’s nearly 50% of his Slams where Novak has reached the final, and if he wins his record-extending 24th major singles title on Sunday, he will have won over one-third of the Majors he’s played. Also, a win would bring him just one Major away from the ever-elusive calendar-year Grand Slam for the second time in three years.
This is a second Major final for Carlos Alcaraz, after winning the US Open last September. Djokovic was not allowed to play that tournament due to his vaccination status. With the No.1 ranking also on the line in this championship match, as Carlitos and Novak have traded it back and forth this past year, Sunday’s result will go on a long way in deciding who is the real best player in the world. Five weeks ago in Paris, Alcaraz cramped badly after the first two sets of his semifinal against Djokovic. Is the 20-year-old Spaniard more physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared to stay with Novak in a best-of-five matchup on Sunday?
Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs. Novak Djokovic (2) – 2:00pm on Centre Court
The list of Djokovic’s current streaks is mind-boggling: 27 matches at Majors, 34 matches at Wimbledon, and 45 matches on Centre Court, which dates back over a decade. He hasn’t lost a match at Wimbledon since 2017, which was a match he retired from due to injury. He hasn’t lost a completed match at Wimbledon since 2016. And Novak has claimed his last 15 tiebreaks at Slams.
Djokovic is 33-4 this season, with three titles, two of which were Majors. He is 23-11 in Major finals, and has won 15 of his last 18. In Wimbledon finals, Novak is 7-1, with his only loss being the last time he lost on Centre Court, to Andy Murray in 2013.
Alcaraz is 46-4 on the year, and is currently tied with Daniil Medvedev for the most wins in 2023. He’s won five titles this season (Buenos Aires, Indian Wells, Barcelona, Madrid, Queen’s Club), and is 12-3 in tour-level finals. In his only Slam final to date, Carlitos defeated Casper Ruud in four sets ten months ago in New York.
In the aforementioned Roland Garros semifinal, they split the first two sets, before Djokovic easily won the last two against a fully-cramped Alcaraz. Their only other previous meeting went to the Spaniard in Madrid, as last April Carlitos won an epic three-setter in a third-set tiebreak, just a day after defeating his idol, Rafael Nadal.
Alcaraz has said the cramps he suffered in Paris were a result of tension and nerves, and not a lack of endurance. He’s shown before he’s fully capable of winning long matches, with an impressive 8-1 record in five-setters, including three such wins at last year’s US Open. But what kind of scar tissue was created by the cramping he suffered from last month against Djokovic? Carlitos told ESPN before this fortnight that during that French Open semifinal, he felt like “death.”
If Alcaraz is going to truly challenge Djokovic on Sunday, he’ll need to be cerebrally aggressive, and utilize all the variety he possess to control the rhythm of the match. And it will be crucial for Carlitos to get an early lead. As per Tennis Abstract, Novak is 297-5 at Majors when he wins the first set, and hasn’t lost a match at a Major after winning the first set since the 2016 US Open final.
Djokovic is perhaps the greatest frontrunner is tennis history, and perhaps the greatest grass court male player in history, as he looks to equal Federer’s mark of eight Wimbledon titles. And he’s been holding with ease throughout these Championships, being broken only three times in six matches. On Sunday, Novak is a considerable favorite to win his 24th Major singles titles.
Also on Sunday, the ladies’ doubles championship match will be played, as it’s Storm Hunter and Elise Mertens (3) vs. Su-Wei Hsieh and Barbora Strycova. Hunter and Mertens have advanced extremely comfortably to this stage, losing only nine games in their seven completed sets, and receiving a walkover and a retirement earlier in the tournament. They won the WTA 1000 title in Rome earlier this season.
This is just the sixth tournament for Su-Wei, and the fifth for Strycova, since both returned from extended layoffs. Su-Wei’s began at the end of 2021 to heal an injury, while Strycova was out for over two years as she became a mother.
For Mertens, this is a third consecutive ladies’ doubles final at The Championships, and she and Su-Wei won this title as a team in 2021. Su-Wei and Strycova won this title in 2019, and Hsieh also won it with a third different partner back in 2013. This is a first Major final in this discipline for Hunter, though she won the mixed doubles event at last year’s US Open.
Sunday’s full Order of Play is here.
