Alcaraz dethrones Djokovic after five-game Wimbledon thriller

Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz heralded the changing of the guard in men’s tennis as he ended Novak Djokovic’s long reign at Wimbledon with a rip-roaring 1-6, 7-6(6) 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 victory to win the All England Club title for the first time yesterday.

The 36-year-old Serbian had been indestructible on Wimbledon’s Centre Court for a decade, but yesterday he finally met his match as he ran out of ideas to stop young gun Alcaraz from hurtling towards the title.

After the 20-year-old had broken for a 2-1 lead in the fifth set with a stupendous passing shot winner, Djokovic’s racket felt the full force of his anger as he smashed it against the wooden net post to leave it in a mangled mess.

That earned Djokovic a second warning in the match, with the Serb also being cautioned earlier for taking too much time to launch into his serves. But all that distraction failed to throw an inspired Alcaraz off course as he became the youngest man in 37 years to win the gilded Challenge Cup after Djokovic scooped a forehand into the net, leaving the Spaniard to collapse on to his back in his moment of triumph.

It was a second major for the 20-year-old Spaniard following his US Open title last year as he became Wimbledon’s third youngest men’s champion. The result will also spark feverish speculation over the start of a generational shift, with 36-year-old Djokovic carrying the torch of the ‘Big Three’ now that Roger Federer is retired and Rafael Nadal is sidelined, perhaps permanently.

Australian Open and French Open champion, Djokovic, had been bidding to equal Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon titles and match Margaret Court’s all-time mark of 24 Slams.

When he won his first major at the Australian Open in 2008, Alcaraz was still three months