On July 11, Jannik Sinner became the youngest man to reach a Wimbledon semi-final since 2007. In his post-match interview, Sinner casually lamented that he would probably have to pass on that record, within a day, to Carlos Alcaraz. The next day, Alcaraz sped past sixth-seed Holger Rune like a milestone on an empty freeway.

Alcaraz is 20, in just his third Grand Slam season, and already possesses a halo around him. Sunday night’s epic at Wimbledon was a rematch of the potential epic at Roland Garros two months back. That match, too, 카지노사이트킴 was electric until lower-body cramps took all his energy out. Unable to fully recover, he had to watch, almost powerless, as Novak Djokovic did what he does best. After the match, Alcaraz admitted that he had allowed the pressure of a big semi-final to get to him.

The stakes were higher last evening. Alcaraz has dreamt of making it to the title at Wimbledon. Novak calls it home. Djokovic rarely goes through a Grand Slam these days without breaking or setting some kind of record. This was his 35th Grand Slam final — more than anyone else. It had been a decade since anyone beat him at centre court; seven years since anyone beat him anywhere at Wimbledon. If he makes it to the final at the US Open, he would’ve reached the final in half the Grand Slams he’s played in. A career that would be laughable for its absurdity, if not for the possibility of something even more absurd lurking at the next turn.

Djokovic is always playing his best tennis ever. And at every Grand Slam, he has to answer at least five questions about his “plans”, which is about the only time his age becomes relevant. On the court, he is too busy matching 20-year-olds in five-hour finals. His generation of tennis supernovas has rewritten all rules of success, longevity, and endurance. A week back, Andy Murray was playing a five-setter against Stefanos Tsitsipas. Collapsing, stretching, grimacing, but never letting the younger opponent have an easy point. Stanislas Wawrinka, 38, made it to the second round too. Djokovic, Murray, and Wawrinka, along with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, have won 70 out of the last 78 Grand Slam singles titles. It may be worth taking a second to let that number sink in.

But slowly, that generation — most of it anyway — is fading away from the main draws at major events. Men’s tennis is on the brink of change, once again, finally.

In 1990, the average age of the ATP top 100 was 24.6. Boris Becker was 23, Andre Agassi 20, Pete Sampras 19. That average was pushed to 28.6 by the end of 2017. The Big Three were winning most titles, and on the odd occasion, they slipped, Murray and Wawrinka pounced. For a while, it felt like an entire generation would pass by without as much as a tremor in the hegemony. It took till the US Open of 2020 and a Djokovic disqualification for a fresh face to hold a Grand Slam trophy. Since Dominic Thiem’s triumph in New York, Daniil Medvedev has won a title, almost ran Nadal to the brink in another, and now Carlos Alcaraz has won two.

It is tempting to see last night’s result from this change-of-guard prism — a Federer vs Sampras 2001 moment — but that would be overlooking the timeless monument this new generation is running into. Djokovic has a lot of tennis and some titles left in him. Never was this more apparent than in the middle of the fourth set. More than four hours into the game, facing an opponent 15 years younger and a game fast slipping from his hands, Djokovic found a special well of energy, the location of which is known only to him. It looked like he was once again finding his best groove.

That Alcaraz could weather that storm, at his age, is one of the most encouraging takeaways from the Wimbledon final. In only his fourth grass-court tournament, Alcaraz emerged as a deserving winner and a worthy holder of the World Number One tag. Along with his obvious talent, he has shown range and temperament, traits that would make Djokovic proud.

Djokovic knows what it’s like to be in Alcaraz’s shoes. That young Wimbledon semi-finalist from 2007, whose record took 16 years to be matched, is Novak himself. For all the architectural perfection of his technique, his physical endurance, glaringly evident last night, is a hint to the benchmark Alcaraz and Sinner’s generation is chasing. It’s a high bar, but if someone pointed at three lanky youngsters in 2004 and told you that they will leave Sampras and Agassi’s records in the dust, you wouldn’t have believed them either.