LONDON — Carlos Alcaraz is just a few months shy of his 21st birthday, but Grand Slam success is something he’s already experienced.
Alcaraz moved one step closer to a second consecutive Wimbledon title and a fourth major championship overall, overcoming a shaky start to beat Daniil Medvedev 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals on Centre Court on Friday.
“I feel like I’m not a rookie anymore. I know how I feel before a final. I’ve been in this situation before,” Alcaraz said. “I’m going to do what worked last year and try to improve on it.”
Just like last year, he will face Novak Djokovic in the final, who defeated 25th seed Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 7-6 (2), 6-4 in the second semifinal.
Djokovic went to the net to win 15 of 16 points in the first set, winning 43 of 56 points in that category.
It will be the first time the same two players have met in consecutive Wimbledon finals since Djokovic beat Roger Federer in 2014 and 2015.
Djokovic has failed to reach any finals this season and underwent surgery in June for a torn meniscus in his right knee, but will be seeking his eighth title at the All England Club.
That would tie Federer’s all-time men’s title record and move him one shy of Martina Navratilova’s record of nine, and the 37-year-old Serb would also become the first player in tennis history to win 25 Grand Slam titles.
“I know what I have to do,” Alcaraz said. “I’m sure he knows what he has to do to beat me.”
Late in Djokovic’s semifinal, after he missed the first three match points, fans hoping for a longer match began chanting “Lorenzo!”
One player yelled during a point, embarrassing Djokovic, who mockingly wiped away fake tears after Musetti missed a break chance in the final game.
Djokovic, the second seed, ultimately reached his 10th Wimbledon final and his 37th major final.
“I don’t want to stop here,” Djokovic said. “Hopefully I can win the trophy on Sunday.”
After a decent opening match against Medvedev, Alcaraz has transformed into an energetic, aggressive and crowd-pleasing force, already reaching No. 1 in the ATP rankings for the first time as a teenager and becoming the youngest player to win major trophies on three courts – grass, clay and hard courts.
The Spaniard is now one win away from matching Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg as the only men to win multiple times at the All England Club before turning 22 in the Open Era, which began in 1968.
Alcaraz also won the 2022 U.S. Open and last month’s French Open, making him 3-0 in major finals.
A year ago at Wimbledon, Alcaraz beat 2021 U.S. Open champion Medvedev in straight sets in the semifinals — “he blew me away,” Medvedev recalled — before beating Djokovic in five sets.
On an overcast afternoon, with the retractable roof over the main stadium open because of a complete absence of rain over the first week and a half of the tournament, Alcaraz, the third seed, had an up-and-down game against fifth-seeded Medvedev, the 28-year-old from Russia.
“I was really nervous coming into the match,” Alcaraz said. “He was dominating the match and playing great tennis. … It was difficult for me.”
Medvedev did jump out to a 5-2 lead early on, but his play and temperament got him into trouble after that.
Alcaraz broke with a drop shot to close the gap at 5-4, but chair umpire Eva Asderaki ruled that the drop shot bounced twice before Medvedev touched the ball with his racket (a call that proved correct, according to television replays).
Medvedev expressed his displeasure, and during the ensuing substitution, Azderaki got off his seat and spoke to tournament referee Dennis Parnell, who issued Medvedev a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“I said something in Russian, nothing offensive, but I didn’t go too far,” Medvedev told a news conference.
He quickly recovered and played near-perfect in the tiebreaker of that set.
Then it was Alcaraz’s turn to get things going in the right direction, and it didn’t take long.
He got the final break he needed to take a 4-3 lead in the fourth set when Medvedev hit a backhand long, sat in a chair on the sideline, made eye contact with his two coaches and began muttering and gesticulating.
“I was playing well,” Medvedev said, “but it wasn’t enough.”
The crowd audibly gasped every time Alcaraz let out a two-syllable groan — “Ooooh!” — after hitting a powerful forehand, regardless of whether the point lasted.
But that often wasn’t the case: 24 of Alcaraz’s racquet came from his 28 forehand winners during the match.
The dangerous Alcaraz can play at his best offensively, but his defense is also phenomenal.
At times it feels like the conversation will never end until he decides to do so.
And if that’s what it looks like from the stands, imagine how frustrating it must be for opponents.
At one point, Alcaraz sprinted to reach a ball that was clearly out of his reach, then slipped, leaving a skid mark several feet long on the turf.
He lobbed the ball, forcing Medvedev to miss over his head.
Sunday’s sports schedule also includes the Wimbledon men’s final, as well as the men’s European football championship final in Germany, with Spain facing England.
“It’s going to be a really good day for the Spanish people,” Alcaraz alluded to in his on-court interview, drawing boos from the home crowd. Alcaraz smiled and added: “I never said Spain would win, I just said it was going to be a really fun day.”
