It could be argued that Novak Djokovic has never been dismantled like he was yesterday afternoon by Carlos Alcaraz, as the guards were well and truly changed at Wimbledon.
The 21-year-old was rampant, crushing his opponent with pace, power, finesse and big serves.
With the latter, Alcaraz revealed the extra work he did on them ahead of the final, and they proved to be the difference-maker.
Although, whilst the Spaniard deserves praise for his performance, Novak Djokovic hardly offered much fightback. He was uncharacteristically flat, and fell to a straight-sets defeat.
Novak Djokovic makes honest Wimbledon admission
Even if the manner of his loss was somewhat brutal, losing 2-6, 2-6, 6-7, just making it to that stage of the competition deserves praise.
After all, it was just last month that Djokovic tore the meniscus in his right knee, forcing him to undergo surgery.
Even appearing in SW19 marked a superhuman feat, but to crush all in his path to get the honour of facing Carlos Alcaraz was just another level of physical magnificence.
It was not enough on the day, but as someone who loses so infrequently, it has to be admitted that he is supremely humble and magnanimous when put in that unfamiliar position.
This was perfectly outlined in his post-match assessment, speaking to Wimbledon’s official website to note: ‘He wasn’t allowing me to have much of a free points on my serve. He was reading the serve very well, he was playing with a lot of variety, I have never really seen him that in that way to be honest.
‘136, maybe I was missing something this tournament, but I have never seen him serve that fast. He must have had a really good serving practice yesterday! Overall he really outplayed me.’
Carlos Alcaraz played his best tennis in the Wimbledon final
Although Djokovic didn’t really turn up for the final, Alcaraz’s performance could not have been more different, inarguably producing his best tennis of the tournament when it really mattered.
Admittedly, the four-time Grand Slam champion kind of bumbled his way through the draw, first making hard work of qualifier Mark Lajal and Aleksandar Vukic before coming dangerously close to being dumped out by Frances Tiafoe in five sets, who had previously been enduring a nightmare 2024.
Ugo Humbert came next, and surrendering the third set by a 6-1 margin sparked additional fears as he was broken three times in a row before he narrowly took the fourth to get into the next round.
He would then lose the first sets against both Tommy Paul and Daniil Medvedev in the quarters and semi-finals, but came back to win both matches in four.
But there was no such trouble against Djokovic.
Quick, cutthroat and clinical. A Wimbledon final finished off in just under two and a half hours.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
