Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic to meet in Wimbledon final

Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, seeded third, overcame nerves and a slow start to beat Daniil Medvedev 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 and advance to his second straight Wimbledon final on Friday in London.

Defending champion Alcaraz also beat the Russian in the 2023 semifinals before defeating Novak Djokovic for his first Wimbledon title. Alcaraz has a 17-2 overall record at the All England Club.

Alcaraz and Djokovic will have a rematch on Sunday after seven-time Wimbledon singles champion Djokovic, seeded second, cruised to a 6-4, 7-6 (2), 6-4 victory over No. 25 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy.

“He fully deserves to be one of the best 21-year-olds we’ve seen in this sport,” Djokovic said after the match against Alcaraz. “And we’re going to see him a lot in the future. …

“He beat me here in the Wimbledon final (last year) in five sets. I expect nothing less. He’s as complete a player as there is. I’ll have to give my best to beat him on Sunday.”

Friday’s first match on grass started in Medvedev’s favour, as he took a 5-2 lead but gave the advantage back to Alcaraz who broke him to get back on serve. In the tiebreak, Medvedev dominated, winning seven of the eight points.

Despite his momentum, Medvedev couldn’t keep it up, losing serve to find himself 3-1 down in the second set and giving Alcaraz the only opening he needed.

In total, Alcaraz broke Medvedev’s serve six times from 15 opportunities. Before the match, the Russian had been broken just eight times in total in his five matches over the fortnight.

Alcaraz hit 55 winners to 31 for Medvedev, who he said was a tough opponent and one he was happy to outplay. The key, he said, was figuring out how to avoid long rallies.

“I started very, very nervous,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “I think he was dominating the match, playing really good tennis with his serves. He was tough for me, trying to make me forget. At the beginning of the second set, it was really helpful to be up 3-1, and after that I was able to play my own game. … I think I played a really good match.”

Alcaraz won 85.7% of his service games (18 of 21) and was broken only three times. Medvedev managed to break his serve only once after the first set.

Djokovic and Musetti each hit 34 winners in their fight, with Musetti committing nine fewer errors than Djokovic’s 31.

Musetti led 3-1 in the second set before Djokovic came back to force a tiebreak. The Serb won the first three points and took a 2-0 lead.

By beating Alcaraz, Djokovic could equal Roger Federer’s record for Wimbledon titles (8). A win would also allow him to break the record of 25 Grand Slam titles. Margaret Court has won 24 Grand Slam titles among women.

“I’m very happy and pleased to be in the final again,” Djokovic said. “But I don’t want to stop there. I want to get my hands on that trophy on Sunday.”

Djokovic’s hot streak comes after he underwent surgery on his right knee on June 5 to repair a meniscus injury. He was forced to withdraw from the quarter-finals of Roland Garros after suffering the injury in a win over Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo on June 3.

“I had a lot of doubts,” Djokovic said. “Arriving in London about eight days before the tournament started, I didn’t know if I was going to play in the tournament or not. I kept everything open until the day of the draw. I played a few practice sets with the best players and an exhibition match that proved that I was in good enough shape to not only play in Wimbledon but also to go far in the tournament.”

Djokovic has a 3-2 record against Alcaraz.

Alcaraz is 3-0 in Grand Slam finals. He said he was happy to have Saturday off and would escape tennis by playing a round of golf.

“I’m really bad at my tennis,” he said of his golf game. “I love playing golf. I’m not very good… I can’t hit it straight but, yeah, it helps me a lot, you know, to take my mind off of tennis a little bit and relax.”

–Field level media