Based on the reactions on social media, it appears everybody on the earth of tennis was riveted by Novak Djokovic’s victory over Carlos Alcaraz within the last of the final event for each forward of the U.S. Open.
It was a titanic, 3½-hour-plus showdown between the 2 titans of the boys’s sport for the time being – the third time they’ve performed one another in Djokovic’s previous three occasions, every on a special floor – and set the stage for what might be an anticipated assembly to find out the champion at Flushing Meadows, the place play begins Monday and finishes on Sept. 10.
Last weekend’s contest on the hard-court Cincinnati Masters, wherein Djokovic, who’s 36, saved a championship level within the second set and Alcaraz, who’s 20, saved 4 within the third earlier than succumbing 5-7, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4), additionally served to represent the state of change the game presently finds itself in, a 12 months faraway from Serena Williams’ farewell match in New York and Roger Federer’s retirement announcement quickly thereafter.
Alcaraz is The Next Big Thing, the winner of the 2022 U.S. Open who grabbed his second Grand Slam title final month at Wimbledon by beating – sure, that’s proper – Djokovic. And Djokovic, the proprietor of 23 main trophies, is the one member of The Big Three competing these days, what with Federer (who has 20) completed and Rafael Nadal (22) out since January with a hip drawback however eyeing a return for one final hurrah in 2024.
“For so many years, the game has been dominated by legends of the sport, but Father Time is undefeated. Everyone has to kind of go on to their next stage and they have to put the rackets down. We’re seeing that unfortunately with Serena, with Roger, with Rafa. There is going to be a bit of a transition period,” mentioned Chris Eubanks, a 27-year-old from Atlanta who reached the Wimbledon males’s quarterfinals. “It leaves a lot of parity and it leaves a lot of opportunities for other players in the men’s and women’s games to kind of make a name for themselves.”
No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek, who’s 22, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, 25, and No. 4 Elena Rybakina, 24, seem poised to remain close to the highest of the ladies’s sport – Swiatek already has received 4 Slam titles, together with the 2022 U.S. Open; the others have one apiece – and No. 6 Coco Gauff, simply 19, is likely to be able to etch her title on one of many 4 most prestigious trophies in tennis.
Still, none has established herself as a definitive inheritor to Williams.
“There is a shift,” mentioned France’s Caroline Garcia, who reached the semifinals in New York a 12 months in the past. “There are young players coming, like Alcaraz and Iga.”
The sport’s leaders hope somebody will step ahead.
“For those of you who have long wondered about the future of tennis as we transition out of a golden age where you have had some of the best men and women of all-time competing against each other simultaneously,” mentioned Lew Sheer, the CEO and government director of the U.S. Tennis Association, the nationwide federation that runs the U.S. Open, “we saw 2022 as a year of emerging stars.”
Perhaps. It’s true there have been 10 first-time Masters 1000 champions on the boys’s aspect over the previous three seasons, a bunch that features Alcaraz, after all, but additionally one other 20-year-old, Holger Rune, and Jannik Sinner, 22.
“We’re starting to see new faces at the Grand Slams and Masters. It’s kind of the last step to dethrone players like Djokovic and Nadal – and it’s coming,” mentioned Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 23-year-old Canadian who was a U.S. Open semifinalist two years in the past. “Carlos probably is beginning a bit of a switch of the guard. But Djokovic probably hasn’t said his last word.”
That definitely seemed to be Djokovic’s message in Cincinnati, the place he ripped off his shirt and roared after lastly dispatching Alcaraz.
All in all, it was good preparation for Djokovic as he returns to the U.S. Open after being unable to journey to the United States final 12 months as a result of he isn’t vaccinated towards COVID-19.
Djokovic mentioned dealing with Alcaraz reminded him of taking over Nadal of their primes – which was fairly a while in the past.
“Boy, you never give up, man. Jesus Christ,” Djokovic mentioned, drawing fun from Alcaraz not lengthy after the Spaniard was crying right into a towel.
“I mean, I love that about you, but sometimes I wish that you’d maybe play a few points just like this, you know?” Djokovic continued, waving his proper hand with out objective.
Alcaraz supplied good phrases, too.
“I learned a lot,” he instructed Djokovic, “from a champion like you.”
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis author since 2002.
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