Everyone pointing to one play that cost Novak Djokovic the Wimbledon title
Sep 12, 2021; Flushing, NY, USA; Novak Djokovic of Serbia is introduced before playing Daniil Medvedev of Russia in the men’s singles final on day fourteen of the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Novak Djokovic is arguably the greatest male tennis player ever, and arguably the most well-rounded player ever. But if there is one weakness in his game, it is his overheads. He still has been able to win 23 grand slam titles and 94 career titles despite that weakness. But it’s quite possible that overheads cost Djokovic a major.
Djokovic lost a grueling five-set match to Carlos Alcaraz in the finals of Wimbledon on Sunday, marking the first time the 20-year-old has beaten Djokovic at a major. Alcaraz won the match despite losing the first set 1-6. The young Spaniard also pulled out the second set in a tiebreak.
It was in the fifth set where many think Djokovic blew a chance to win the match.
Djokovic was leading 1-0 in the fifth and had a break point at 30-40. After a long backhand rally, Djokovic was able to put Alcaraz on the run and then approached the net following a soft slice return. Alcaraz responded with a lob that looked like it might have been going out.
Not only did Djokovic not let the ball bounce to see if it would go out, but he got caught in between. He did a swinging forehand rather than hit an overhead off the lob from Alcaraz.
The sport would never be the same again. Satan's luck finally ran out. ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ pic.twitter.com/Ou8KCFuWos
— Zain (@ItzzZain10) July 16, 2023
Djokovic hit the ball into the net for an unforced error that cost him the point.
During some analysis on The Tennis Channel after the match, Jim Courier said the players in the top 100 would have just hit an easy crosscourt slice on the overhead to put away the point. That’s a routine shot for most top players, but it had Djokovic in between, and he botched it.
Rather than get the break to go up 2-0 in the final set, Alcaraz rallied back to win that game and hold serve. Then Alcaraz broke Djokovic and held serve to go up 3-1 in the set. They each held serve for the rest of the set, which was enough for Alcaraz to win the final set 6-4 for the championship.
That failed overhead not only cost Djokovic the game, but it may have also threw him off mentally to the point that his serve was broken on the ensuing game. He won’t soon forget that error.