THE final of the men’s singles tournament at Wimbledon provided the most convincing evidence so far of a changing of the guard in the tennis world. Carlos Alcaraz, 20, defeated Novak Djokovic, his senior by 16 years, in a gripping five-set match.
The Spaniard denied the Serb his 24th Grand Slam victory, which would have increased his lead over Rafael Nadal (22) and Roger Federer (20). (Cue arguments of who is “greatest of all time”, for it’s not just about that statistic, but the relative strength of contemporaneous competitors, and players’ behaviour and conduct – the idea of “greatness” being variously defined.)
