Nothing beats watching a sport event live up to its lofty expectations.
It doesn’t happen all the time, of course, or even most of the time.
In fact it’s rare.
That’s why it’s a good thing because if it did, watching sports would be a ho-hum kind of thing.
When it does, it sticks with you. It stays in your thoughts far longer than you can imagine.
The fact is, you know when you’ve seen something you’ll remember forever.
It’s nothing you need to be sold on. You know.
And there’s nothing more special than when it involves an individual sport, not necessarily a team event, because it’s all about the Mano a Mano of it all.
It’s about the skills, the execution, the adjustments made in action, and the mental fortitude shown by the competitors.
If you saw the men’s Wimbledon championship between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz you knows what I mean.
If you didn’t……..you let a great one get away.
To me, it brought to mind the 70 years I’ve been watching teams and players play games.
That’s right, 70 years.
I saw Bobby Thomson’s “shot heard ‘round the world” as a kid, yet to become a teenager, in 1951 to give the Giants the pennant over the Dodgers.
That was the first indelible moment I experienced.
There have been others, naturally, over that long time-span.
But when I witness solo battles, the kind you remember in the boxing ring, or on the golf course, or on a tennis court, you think of what made those unique.
Djokovic vs. Alcaraz was that kind of a duel.
Long before it was over, I knew it would go down in the annals of the supreme events we’ve seen.
My impressions were underscored when it ended.
Here’s why.
It had to do as much with the past and the future as it did at the moment.
Here was Djokovic, the 36-year old Serb, a man who had won more major tennis championships than anyone ever has, a man who owned centre court at Wimbledon,
against Alcaraz, a 20-year old from Spain, a jewel of a talent, who was only starting to make the kind of history that even the most hardened of tennis experts feel he can achieve.
Imagine, a 16-year gap that brought out the clear questions of young legs, and youthful exuberance, against the seasoning of a veteran whose skills and endurance to fuel the drive to remain at the very top, and not fall by the wayside.
By now you know that Carlos Alcaraz outlasted Novak Djokovic in a five-set heart-stopper to capture the Wimbledon crown.
You can look up Djokovic’s phenomenal record:
the 23 majors he’s won, how he’s dominated the most renowned tournament of them all, and all his other sterling triumphs, to seal his place as the best there is.
At the moment.
This current folly of declaring the Greatest of All Time is only as good as when you want to make that determination.
At one time, Rod Laver was on that throne. How about Pete Sampras? And there have been others.
Right now it’s Djokovic because he’s won more major titles than anyone. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are right there, but don’t have 23.
I say this because if he stays healthy, Carlos Alcaraz could someday be the successor.
But why go there now?
Let him have his career.
Then, we’ll make a judgment.
But the fact that the future for Alcaraz is so brilliant, speaks volumes of what this youngster possesses on a tennis court.
He is a showman of the first order. Not an entertainer per se.
But a player who has skills never before seen in the sport.
There seems to be no shot he can’t reach.
Reach and return to do damage.
At this point, why don’t I actually quote the man he defeated, Novak Djokovic, who can put into words what no one else can.
“ I think people have been talking the past 12 months or so of his game consisting of certain elements from Roger, Rafa, (Nadal) and myself. I would agree with that. I think he’s got basically the best of all three worlds.
He’s got this mental resilience and really maturity for someone who is 20 years old. It’s quite impressive. He’s got this Spanish bull mentality of competitiveness and fighting spirit and incredible defense that we’ve seen with Rafa over the years.
I haven’t played a player like him ever, to be honest.
Roger and Rafa have their own obvious strengths and weaknesses.
Carlos is a very complete player. Amazing adapting capabilities that I think are a key for longevity and for a successful career on all surfaces”.
How blown away was I after seeing that comment by the man Alcaraz conquered?
The match itself featured so many elements that when you put them all together you have the recipe of what it takes for an event to last in your mind.
There was a shocking non-competitive first set in which Djokovic lost only one game.
There was a nail-biting second set which went to a tiebreaker, won by Alcaraz, but a set where the veteran slipped on the grass still damp from an earlier rain.
It obviously hampered Novak, who was seen flexing his left thigh, and banging his racquet against it, stretching every chance he could get.
There was the third set when the 20-year old’s adjustment in strategy continued to pay off in a big way.
At the start of the championship, Alcaraz was aggressive, going for winners, and ultimately making several errors, while Djokovic played defense, keeping the ball in play, not looking to do too much.
But the Spaniard changed his style, and now it was the defending champ who had to rally.
A far cry from the happenings of the first set.
That third set was highlighted by a 26 minute fifth game with 32 points scored before Alcaraz won it and took a 4-1 lead.
Through it all, the Wimbledon crowd was clearly favoring the youngster, which seemed to ignite Djokovic.
When he took a 3-2 lead which he held to even the match at 2 sets apiece, he blew a kiss to the crowd in response.
It reminded me of the Boston Celtics who relished playing their best on the road to shut the crowd down.
It was an incentive for them that worked for decades.
So, as it must be for all truly memorable battles in sports, it came down to a fifth and final set.
During that finale, Djokovic showed his frustration by slamming and breaking his racquet against the net post during a change-over.
The championship ended when Alcaraz held serve with a 5-4 lead to close out the 4-hour 42-minute classic.
I realize everyone wants games to be shorter in length.
But when the struggle is so monumental, it doesn’t matter how long it goes.
Do we call this a changing of the guard?
Perhaps it is. But what I saw from Novak Djokovic was a gritty determination to keep his sky-high performances going for as long as he can.
He has the conditioning . And he has the will.
But the reality in sports, as we’ve all seen, is that age takes its toll.
And the arrows for Djokovic and Alcaraz are pointing in opposite directions.
In the meantime, let’s savor what we witnessed last week at Wimbledon.
For this reporter, it will be added to those relatively few sports experiences I will never forget.