By Richard Pagliaro| @Tennis_Now | Sunday, August 20, 2023

An exhausted Carlos Alcaraz shed tears after bowing to Novak Djokovic in an epic. 

Afterward, Alcaraz stated the ache turned to pleasure he felt pouring his ardour right into a match for the ages.

The 36-year-old Djokovic denied a championship level out-dueling Alcaraz in a dramatic 5-7, 7-6(7), 7-6(4) triumph within the Cincinnati closing spanned three hours, 49 minutes.

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World No. 1 Alcaraz teared up after the match, exhibiting deep emotion thanking his brother, Alvaro, for his assist.

"I feel proud of myself, honestly. I talking and I don't know why I was crying because I fight until the last ball," Alcaraz stated. "I almost beat one of the greatest of all time from our sport.

"It's loopy to speak about it proper now, however I left the courtroom actually, actually joyful what I did. Of course, I've been speaking with my coach, my staff, that we're so, so happy with ourselves."

This rematch of the Wimbledon final exceeded the blockbuster hype escalating into a rousing roller-coaster ride.Djokovic, who rallied from a one-set 2-4 deficit and saved a championship at 5-6 in the second-set tiebreaker, dug in with defiance refusing to give up ground.

In the end, the Grand Slam king praised Alcaraz's fighting spirit.

"The feeling that I've on the courtroom jogs my memory a bit bit after I was going through Nadal after we have been at our prime of our careers," Djokovic said. "Each level is a hustle. Each level is a battle. You really feel such as you're not going to get possibly in complete 5 free factors in your entire match.

"You've got to basically earn every single point, every single shot, regardless of the conditions."

This riveting rivalry now stands deadlocked at 2-2 with each males—and far of the tennis world—hoping they sq. off once more on the US Open the place Alcaraz goals to defend his maiden main.

"Today was really, really difficult playing against Novak," Alcaraz stated. "I mean, he always put almost five, six, seven balls in every point. So fighting and running from one corner to other one every point is really tough to deal with it almost the whole match.

"I attempt to keep there, to remain good bodily, however it was powerful. As I stated, I left every thing on courtroom. For me, clearly it is nice that he is aware of that each time he will play towards me, reminds him taking part in towards Rafa or towards the perfect ones as a result of meaning we're in path."

Photo credit score: Michael Hickey/Getty

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