The wait for Novak Djokovic to pull level with Roger Federer and win an eighth Wimbledon title goes on.
Yesterday in front of a packed Centre Court crowd, the Serbian performer was thrashed in straight sets by Carlos Alcaraz.
The man who is 71 days into his 21st year on the planet claimed his second Wimbledon crown and the fourth of his short career.
Djokovic claimed that the tone had been set from the off when Alcaraz broke the serve of the Serb after winning the toss and choosing to receive.
Andy Roddick reached three Wimbledon finals – losing them all to Federer – and something about the 37-year-old shocked him yesterday.
Andy Roddick shares what shocked him about Novak Djokovic during Wimbledon final
Djokovic has been dominant for a number of years but yesterday did feel like a bit of a changing of the guard on Centre Court.
Yesterday, he just never got going and in truth, he could have been beaten by a more emphatic scoreline than he actually was.
Roddick felt that the gameplan from Djokovic wasn’t quite right and he did something during the game that left him shocked.
Roddick told the Served podcast: “Novak throughout his career has been the master of extending points, playing within himself, forcing you to attack from tough positions. Today I felt like whether it was the serve and volley, whether it was going line very early in these rallies, not sticking Carlos in that backhand to backhand rally – it seemed like Novak was in a hurry to get out of that.
“I don’t fully understand that. Maybe his read on the first couple of points, getting bullied, obviously the knee issue, he must know something that we don’t. I was surprised by how early he went to that all-out aggressive play.
“I didn’t mind the coming in, but taking random shots down the line, very early in rallies in a very aggressive nature, not to switch the direction of the rally. I am surprised he didn’t put more volume on Carlos’s backhand.”
Djokovic will wonder if he can win another Grand Slam
Given that he’s just reached another final then the likelihood of him winning another is still quite strong.
However, with the emergence of Alcaraz, he might be hoping that someone can dump him out before it comes to him facing Djokovic.
The legendary player deserves the utmost respect for the career he’s had which has seen him win 24 major titles.
Roddick is right though and Djokovic’s game plan did feel a little bit strange from the get-go yesterday.
Alcaraz was all over him like a rash and it was the clearest indication yet that the Spaniard will dominate the game of tennis for many years to come.
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