Carlos Alcaraz did not have the ideal North American swing that he was expecting after a perfect grass court season. But having claimed victory at the Wimbledon Championships in July, the Spaniard has joined an interesting club of players at such a young age. Besides Alcaraz, the club also features his childhood idol, Roger Federer as well as his ‘new’ rival, Daniil Medvedev. The fourth member of it is another Swiss player and 3-time Grand Slam champion, Stan Wawrinka. And these four players have an important role in tennis history with a Novak Djokovic connection to it.
Alcaraz lost the US Open 2023 semi-final to Daniil Medvedev and could also slip below him in the ATP rankings if he does not finish off 2023 with big wins. But he did win the Wimbledon Championships, a childhood dream for the Spaniard. And in the process, he stopped Djokovic from winning all four Majors, a Calendar Slam.
Carlos Alcaraz blocks Novak Djokovic’s 4th chance to win the Calendar Slam
In 1969, Rod Laver created history by becoming the first men’s singles player to win all the 4 Grand Slams in a calendar year. Since then, none of the tennis greats have achieved that feat whether it is Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic. Djokovic has come the closest out of all of them to achieve the feat an incredible 4 times in his career.
Back in 2011, Novak Djokovic had one of the greatest tennis seasons ever since he won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. However, he lost to Roger Federer in the semifinals of the French Open after being undefeated in 43 ATP Tour matches. Eventually, Rafael Nadal won the title.
Few would have predicted that Djokovic would top his 2011 season. But it was a similarly magnificent one for him in 2015, winning eerily again in Melbourne, London and New York. Unfortunately, he fell one match short of history as an inspired Stan Wawrinka proved to be a ‘Giant Killer’ again to clinch the French Open final against the Serbian.
2021 was an outstanding year for a 34-year-old Djokovic. He won the Australian Open, French Open and the Wimbledon tournaments. In that year though, it was the US Open where he had a chance to create history.
As a result, losing to Daniil Medvedev in straight sets in the final must have hurt him the most. With that win, Medvedev became the third player after Federer and Wawrinka to deny Djokovic a Calendar Slam. Coming to September 10, 2023, Djokovic took his revenge to beat Medvedev in the US Open final.
But even then, that wasn’t enough for Novak Djokovic to have his best season ever. After winning the Australian Open and French Open, he lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final. The difference in this case is that Alcaraz is not just the only one of the 4 to deny Djokovic a Calendar Slam in London. But also the fact that he is the youngest to do so at the age of 20, much ahead than Medvedev (25), Federer (29) and Wawrinka (30).
Alcaraz vs Medvedev US Open semi-final
Carlos Alcaraz admitted after the match that he wasn’t able to find solutions to the challenges Daniil Medvedev posed to him in the US Open semifinals. Medvedev won the match in 4 sets despite the 20-year-old being the favorite to take on Novak Djokovic in the final. It was Alcaraz’s first defeat to the Russian in 2023 and his first in 13 matches at the US Open.
Recently, Carlos Alcaraz also announced that he will not playing in the Davis Cup for Spain which will be a few months later. He will also not be participating in the upcoming Laver Cup in Canada. As a result, his focus is likely on the upcoming Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals tournaments respectively through which he would aim for at least the year-end No.1 ranking, wrestling with Novak Djokovic for the same.
