Alcaraz and Djokovic: The Wimbledon finalists' conspiracy to repeat

“Dude, you never give up. I love it, but sometimes you could have played shorter points,” Novak Djokovic told Carlos Alcaraz after the titanic final of the 2023 Cincinnati Masters 1000—the longest in the history of the American tournament (3 hours and 49 minutes). The Serbian's words brought a smile to the Spaniard's face, who replied: “Spaniards never die.” And Novak had a sense of déjà vu: “I remember this before,” the Serbian said, referring to his duels with Rafa Nadal.

This Thursday at noon, both players took to the center court at the All England Club to train ahead of their debut at the British Grand Slam next week. The training session took place with the roof closed due to the light rain falling outside, and after a short rally, Djokovic and Alcaraz played a set that ended at 5-5 for just over half an hour (the organizers don't allow training sessions to last more than 45 minutes).

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The relationship between the two tennis players has been forged with more victories for the Serbian in head-to-head matches (5-3). A bond that has grown in respect and admiration. Nole has soaked up the Murcian's energy, and Carlitos has taken note of the Serbian's ambition and mentality, which reached their peak in the final of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, where he won the coveted gold medal against the Spaniard. At Wimbledon, so far, the story has been different. Alcaraz has beaten Djokovic in the last two finals they have faced on London grass (2023 and 2024).

Nole arrives at the event after losing in the Roland Garros semifinals to Jannik Sinner . However, if the Serbian wins at Wimbledon, he would achieve glory by winning his 25th Grand Slam title, breaking his tie with Margaret Court at 24 for the most successful tennis players in history.

Alcaraz is riding the best winning streak of his career (18) and after winning the ATP 500 at Queen's for the second time in his career. The El Palmar native has set a dizzying pace in recent weeks and has reached fearsome figures on grass with a 90.6% winning percentage (29 wins in 32 matches). Pending what Carlitos does at this edition of Wimbledon, only Björn Borg has managed to win two years in a row at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the Open era. The Spaniard's only defeat on the center court of the All England Club in the 12 matches he has played there was in his 2022 debut against Jannik Sinner. "The first time I played on center court I was in shock," Alcaraz confessed later.