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Journalism of Courage
There’s this charming Michael Jordan story from the time when the ageing Magic Johnson was still the unquestionable GOAT of basketball. It is from the pre-1992 Olympics camp, where the Dream Team was split into two for a practice game. What was to be a routine morning workout turned out to be a clash of big egos where no one gave an inch. Jordan was on roll that day, his electric play reminded Johnson that his Magic fading, he wasn’t quite unbeatable.
After the game, as Johnson sat next to the other legend of his generation Larry Bird drying sweat, Jordan swaggered towards the greats. “There’s a new sheriff in the town,” he said with a sneaky smile. With a throaty laugh, Johnson told Bird: “He isn’t lying”.
It is said to be basketball’s epic moment of power shift, like it was at Wimbledon on Sunday when Carlos Alcaraz beat world tennis’s unrivaled GOAT, the 23-Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic. The 20-year-old from the Spanish village of El Palmar, known for its tall palm trees, made a grand announcement from the famous grass court that a new sheriff was in town. And he wasn’t lying.
Power, ambition
There were those who saw a 17-year-old Boris Becker in him. Like was the case in the 1985 final, this too was an exhibition of brutal power and audacious ambition of the youth defying odds. Others at Wimbledon were reminded of the epic change-of-guard fourth-round match in 2001 when Roger Federer had defeated Pete Sampras.
However, this was different. Becker was a 17-year-old rookie and Alcaraz had entered Wimbledon as World No.1 and defending US Open. Federer had it easy since Sampras was well past his prime. Alcaraz was facing the best tennis player the world has ever seen who was at the peak of prowess. This is not the end of an era but the beginning of a new one. This is also the start of an all-court rivalry for ages.
Men’s tennis had been waiting for the Gen Next champion to emerge for a long time. Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Federer had called out many challengers and made them look like imposters. But Wimbledon 2023 will be remembered for the Grand Slam when tennis discovered the true champ, the ‘real deal’ who had it in him to shake the foundations of the old firm.
Alcaraz had won the US Open but it was a tournament that Djokovic had missed. Late in the evening, in the presence of commoners and royalty, Alcaraz won a Slam that had no asterisk. It was the kind of a new dawn the suits at the ATP had been praying for years. Djokovic after the loss would sneak in a line that would have been music to the game’s marketers and fans. “I thought I’ll have trouble with you on clay and maybe hard, not on grass!” the 36-year-old Djokovic told the new sensation standing on the turf that he had owned for the last 10 years. “It was an amazing way to adapt to a surface on which you must have played maybe once or twice before this year! Amazing, amazing.”
No free run
Since the time Federer retired and Nadal was on the cusp of calling it quits, there was a feeling that Djokovic would have a free run. This epic five-setter proved that, regardless of the surface, there would always be Alcaraz in the draw who would ensure the Slams would remain competitive.
On Sunday, Alcaraz had an answer to every trick that the Serb tried. Djokovic had a flying start but he couldn’t pull away. He tried to slow down the pace of the match by taking his time between points but it didn’t break the youngster’s rhythm. The old hand upped the pace of his shots and went for the lines – that too didn’t work. Alcaraz matched him shot by shot, volley by volley, serve by serve.
At the end of the third set when Djokovic took a long break, there was a feeling that, like in the past, a New Novak will emerge from the tunnel soon. He had done that before, against the best in the world. He did return rejuvenated, the magical transformation was there to see. He did threaten to run away with the match too. Djokovic after the break won the fourth set and seemed all set to take his 24th Slam. However, in the 5th, Alcaraz showed he wasn’t just another upstart or even one of his old rivals. He didn’t crack under pressure or had a brain fade.
Facing immense pressure, he pummelled accurate ground strokes that were fierce and deep. His serve remained unshakeable. Once in the final moments of the decisive set, he played a delectable drop shot and followed it up with a lob that Djokovic saw sail over his head. The match was far from over at that point but it was the watershed moment for tennis. Maybe, it was at this moment that the defending champion realised that the new sheriff had well and truly checked in.
