He came, he saw and he conquered. The statement fits Carlos Alcaraz who was last weekend crowned as the Wimbledon Champion at the age of 20 years. He might have been late to the party as younger players had won the Wimbledon Championship before him, but the way he won the grand finale was the stuff legends are made of.

The Spaniard was already the top-ranked player and the World No. 1 when Wimbledon started a couple of weeks back, but even then, he didn’t have the experience of his opponents, which included players like the Russian Daniil Medvedev, whom he dismantled in the semi-final and defending champion Novak Djokovic, whose reign he ended after 10 years and 9 days.

However, the way he played throughout the tournament made even his worst enemies wish that he would end up with the trophy in his hands, and that’s exactly what happened on the final day of the championship.

Barely out of his teens, the Spaniard beat the seven-time champion in five sets to become the youngest man to become Wimbledon champion since a little-known 18-year-old German named Boris Becker did the same in 1986. Not only did this win give him his second Grand Slam title, but it also halted the ascent of Novak Djokovic, who was bidding for a record-tying eighth Wimbledon singles championship — fifth in a row — but failed to equal Roger Federer’s record. Had the Serb won the title, he would have matched Australian Margaret Court’s all-time mark of 24 Grand Slam crowns, but Alcaraz had other ideas.

No escape from Alcaraz, as the 20-year-old is crowned Wimbledon Champion

Born as Carlos Alcaraz Garfia on May 5, 2003, in El Palmar, Murcia, Spain, the youngster had the advantage of having a father who was a director at an academy where tennis was taught. He became a part of that academy at a young age and showed potential in junior tennis. However, his life turned in 2018 when he joined the tennis academy headed by Juan Carlos Ferrero — another former World No. 1 — and turned professional. Since Ferrero took him under his wing, Carlos’ game improved and he emerged as a promising young talent who was labelled as one for the future.

However, when he defeated both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic on consecutive days at the Madrid Open last year, everyone started noticing him. Some termed him as a reincarnation of former World No. 1 Pete Sampras, while others felt that he was something out of the ordinary.

Despite the expectations, he had to wait for his first Grand Slam — the US Open — which he won in 2022. He did reach the last four of the French Open earlier this year, but due to an injury scare lost the semi-final to the eventual winner Novak Djokovic.

Surprisingly, the two met at the final of Wimbledon 2023 where all eyes were on the Serbian who was hoping to claim the Calendar Grand Slam — winning all four Grand Slams in a calendar year. He had the experience on his side and their age difference of 16 years was the biggest age gap between two men’s Grand Slam finalists in nearly 50 years. In fact, when Djokovic became a Grand Slam champion for the first time in 2008, Alcaraz was four years old, and if that didn’t add pressure on the youngster, I don’t know what would have.

He came back from his loss at the Roland Garros’s semi-final and ensured that the cramps didn’t bother him again and went on to master the grass court to become the third youngest champion at The All-England Lawn Tennis Club, after Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg. He may have just two Grand Slams to his name, but with age on his side, who knows he might end up winning as many as, or even more, Grand Slams than players who are now at the top of the table.

Welcome aboard, Carlos Alcaraz!

Published in Dawn, Young World, July 22th, 2023