London, July 13
Ahead of his Wimbledon men's singles final against Carlos Alcaraz, Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic said on Saturday that he expects a huge battle on the court against the defending champion, calling him a "complete player" and "one of the greatest 21-year-olds" in the sport.
In a rematch of 2023 Wimbledon final, the young Spanish sensation Alcaraz and Djokovic will be looking horns, with the former aiming to join Rod Lever, Bjorn Borg, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Djokovic as winners of French Open and Wimbledon in same year and the latter aiming to equal Federer's record of eight Wimbledon singles titles.
Alcaraz has become just the fourth player in the Open Era to achieve multiple Wimbledon final qualification at the age of 21 or less. The 21-year-old, just last month at Roland Garros, became the youngest player of the Open Era to secure a major title on all three surfaces, the grass, clay, and hard courts.
Speaking ahead of the game, as quoted by ATP's website, Djokovic recalled his loss to Alcaraz in last year's Wimbledon final, saying, "He already beat me here in a thrilling five-setter. I do not expect anything less than that. He is as complete a player as they come, so it is going to take the best of my abilities on the court overall to beat him on Sunday."
"He is a great example of a young player who has a well-balanced life on and off the court. Great team of people. There are great values in his family. He has a lot of charisma and carries himself well on and off the court with a smile. That is why people like him, and he is deservedly one of the greatest 21 year olds we have ever seen in this sport. We are going to see a lot of him in the future, no doubt. He is going to win many more Grand Slams, but hopefully [on Sunday], maybe not this one," he added.
Djokovic said that after facing a knee injury and undergoing surgery following French Open, he had doubts if he would play this tournament, but after some good practice outings, he told himself that if he did not have any chance to play, then he would have come there to play.
"The mentality is there, it is ever present and I am just very pleased and thankful to all the team members for helping me," he added.
Djokovic has a 3-2 lead over Alcaraz in the head-to-head battle. The second seed is chasing his first title of the season, arrived at Wimbledon having undergone knee surgery in early June. The former No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings has done well throughout the event with fine levels of fitness, dropping just two sets en route to his 10th Wimbledon final.