Ricky’s pick for the Wimbledon final: Alcaraz vs. Djokovic

What will the 2024 Wimbledon final do for an encore? It will have to produce something special if it wants to equal last year’s festivities.

It will be the same two players, too, as Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic will once again square off at the All-England Club. Alcaraz prevailed 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in the 2023 championship match last summer for the second of his current haul of three major titles.

Djokovic, however, owns a 3-2 lead in the head-to-head series. He has won two in a row at Alcaraz’s expense since their showdown in London last summer. The 24-time slam champion won an epic 5-7, 7-6(7), 7-6(5) showdown in the Cincinnati Masters final and cruised 6-3, 6-2 at the Nitto ATP Finals.

“Last year it was a really difficult match,” Alcaraz said of the ’23 Wimbledon final. “He put me in [real] trouble. But, yeah, I know how it’s going to feel playing against Djokovic. I’ve played (him a) few times in Grand Slams, final of (a) Masters 1000, multiple times against him. I know what I have to do. I’m sure he knows what he has to do to beat me. It’s going to be a really interesting one.”

Now midway through the 2024 campaign, Djokovic is showing few–but some–indications of slowing down at 37 years old. He remains one of the three best players in the world (along with Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner) by a considerable margin but has not yet won a title this entire season. Djokovic is one win away from ending the drought following victories over Vit Kopriva, Jake Fearnley, Alexei Popyrin, Holger Rune, and Lorenzo Musetti.

Unlike Djokovic, Alcaraz–when healthy–has been rolling this year. The Spaniard lifted La Coupe des Mousquetaires at Roland Garros and is on the precipice of back-to-back Grand Slam triumphs. His latest run in SW19 has come at the expense of Mark Lajal, Aleksandar Vukic, Frances Tiafoe, Ugo Humbert, Tommy Paul, and Daniil Medvedev.

“He surprised I think all of us last year the way he played in Queen’s and Wimbledon, which he won back-to-back,” Djokovic noted. “You would think that for someone growing up in Spain, as he did, the way he’s playing, clay court, Grand Slam win, which happened this year in Roland Garros, and U.S. Open a few years ago was maybe not as surprising as Wimbledon–but the way he has moved, played the last couple of years on grass has been terrific to watch, to be honest.

“I see a lot of similarities between me and him in terms of ability to adapt and adjust to the surface. I think that’s probably his biggest trait, is that he’s got skills to play equally well on any surface and to adapt to a given opponent that particular day.”

That’s exactly what Alcaraz did in the 2023 final and he should be expected to do the same 2024. He has survived tougher tests than Djokovic at this event and has been the superior player pretty much all year long.

Pick: Alcaraz in 4

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.