Carlos Alcaraz reached his second consecutive Wimbledon final, after beating Daniil Medvedev 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 on Centre Court on Friday.
After dropping the first set for the third time in the tournament, Alcaraz imposed himself on the match and wrenched it from Medvedev’s grasp.
Medvedev, who played some stunning shots and benefitted from a little luck to win the tiebreak resoundingly, 7-1, came close to being defaulted from the match in the first set, after losing serve on a ball that bounced twice just before he hit it. He appeared to say “f*** you” three times in the direction of umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore, who spoke to the supervisor and tournament referee before choosing to continue with the match.
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Alcaraz took the first set to 6-6 behind a first-serve percentage of just 48 per cent, and took the second set behind just 52 per cent, winning 63 and 73 per cent of points respectively. Medvedev, by contrast, made 76 but won 66 in the first, and 56 and 70 in the second.
Despite Medvedev doing his best to make life difficult for Alcaraz, the Spaniard was able to stay ahead at crucial times, reversing a first-set deficit on rallies of between zero and four shots to take that battle 84-69. After being taken to 30-30 on his final service game, and hitting his first serve out, he forced Medvedev into the corner and a forehand sailed wide.
Alcaraz will play either Novak Djokovic or Lorenzo Musetti in Sunday’s final, as he seeks to defend his Wimbledon title.
‘He produces something spectacular’
Analysis from Charlie Eccleshare
When Carlos Alcaraz plays, there is often a moment in which he produces something spectacular, and then the rest of his game explodes.
After experiencing this phenomenon in the quarterfinals, a dazed Tommy Paul said: “Half of the job when you’re out there is not to let him win one of those crazy points because when he does, he kind of gets on a roll.”
“One of those crazy points” duly arrived in the third game of the second set, after which Alcaraz absolutely “got on a roll”.
The Spanish defending champion was serving at 1-1. He had lost the first set on a tiebreak, and was struggling to shake off his dogged opponent. During the point in question, Medvedev kept retrieving balls that looked like winners, forcing Alcaraz to hit one more shot. Eventually though, Alcaraz had had enough — he ran around a backhand and guided an inside-out forehand into the corner for a winner.
He pointed his finger to his ear and asked for more noise from Centre Court. They provided it. It was all rolling downhill from there.
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He broke Medvedev in the next game, and the momentum of the match completely shifted. Alcaraz then served his way to the second set, and pinched an early break in the third, which was all he needed to take a two sets to one lead.
The turnaround was largely built on improving his serving. Medvedev broke Alcaraz twice in the first set, with Alcaraz achieving a first-serve percentage of just 48 per cent, winning 63 per cent of those points. The defending champion was a lot more secure in sets two and three. He didn’t lose his serve once in those two, and upped his first serve percentage to 52 per cent (set two) and 64 per cent (set three), with his first-serve points won rising to 73 per cent (set two) and a hugely impressive 94 per cent in the third set.
His serve has been shaky at various points this tournament, and is definitely something he’ll be conscious of going into Sunday’s final. Especially if he’s up against Novak Djokovic, the best returner in the history of the sport. The other side of that is that Alcaraz managed to get to a tiebreak with a terrible first-serve performance, which speaks volumes about his ability to win points in other contexts.
The fourth set saw Alcaraz broken early on when he was already a break up, but generally he was pretty secure in his service games, posting figures of 56 per cent first serve in, and 74 per cent of first serve points won. He started to hit more drop shots, although not all of them came off, and he relaxed into the match, unleashing some huge forehands including one clocked at 105 mph.
For Medvedev, there wasn’t a great deal more that he could have done in this match, just like the previous year’s semifinal. He showed great defiance at various points to keep getting to shots that he had little right to, but Alcaraz just kept coming up with the answers.
Having been beaten by Alcaraz for the second year running, following defeats to Djokovic in September’s US Open final and Jannik Sinner in January’s Australian Open final, Medvedev just keeps running into one of the best three players in the world and not being quite good enough.
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Alcaraz meanwhile can look forward to returning to Centre Court on Sunday, ahead of sitting down to watch Spain take on England in the Euro 2024 final. A historic double remains a possibility.
What did Alcaraz say after the match?
On court: “I’m really happy with my performance today. I started really, really average, he was dominating the match and playing great tennis.
“It was difficult for me, but I tried to pull out all the nerves at the beginning of the second set. After that, I enjoyed the match a bit more, hit great shots, moved really well, so in general I think I played a really great match.
“I tried not to play long rallies, tried to go to the net as much as I can, tried not to play his game. It was difficult to break the wall.”
On the feeling of being in a second Wimbledon final, he said “I feel like I’m not new anymore. I know how I’m going to feel before the final … I will try to do the things I did last year (when I won).
“A huge percentage of what I’m going to do tomorrow is play golf.”
“It’s going to be a really good day for Spanish people as well,” he added, jokingly referencing the European Championship final between England and Spain on Sunday, to light-hearted boos from the home crowd.
“I didn’t say Spain is going to win! I’m just saying it’s going to be a fun day. But obviously it will be a really difficult match, Lorenzo and Djokovic are playing great tennis. Let’s see who I play on Sunday.”
Speaking about his golf game, he added: “I’m so, so bad, compared to my tennis. I can’t hit it straight.
“It helps me turn off my mind a bit. I love playing but I’m not too good.”
In his press conference:
“I know how it’s going to feel playing against Djokovic. I’ve played few times in Grand Slams, final of Master 1000, multiple times against him. I know what I have to do. I’m sure he knows what he has to do to beat me.”
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What did Medvedev say after the match?
In his press conference:
“He seemed to touch almost every ball on the court, like running well. I made some good points. I could have finished some maybe at the net, but didn’t manage to do it.
“But yeah, in my opinion he played much better than all the opponents I faced here before, and hence I lost.”
“I feel like I was doing the right thing, and then sometimes by doing the right thing, I would still get three winners in the game on my serve, and that’s a break.”
When asked about comparing Alcaraz to Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and his opponent in the final, Novak Djokovic, Medvedev said:
“They’re all different, all different in their own way, in their game. I feel like you can’t even, yeah, take something from one and compare to another.
“So Roger plays on the line. Hits beautiful technique shots, goes to the net. Novak plays also on the line, but completely different. Amazing defense, like a pinball player where the ball comes back so fast. Rafa, completely different. He can stay ten meters behind, but he is going to run to every ball and banana shot, lefty.
“Carlos, I don’t think he has anything from them. It’s different game style. I think where Carlos is different from many players, we all have a little bit our preferences, someone prefers defense, someone prefers counterattack, someone prefers to be super aggressive. He can do all of it.”
— Max Mathews contributed reporting.
(Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)