Wimbledon 2023: Brilliant Alcaraz leaves All England Club gasping

By James Toney at Wimbledon

There's a new entry in the soundtrack to Wimbledon. Joining the oh and the ah, the long-established groan and the much-maligned grunt, is the gasp, a collective and audible catching of breath from 14,979 fans when Carlos Alcaraz crunches a forehand.

It's hard to believe something can be hit with such power and precision, sometimes it defies science and belief watching this guy swat, swipe, serve and smash.

And there were gasps galore as Alcaraz cruised into his first Wimbledon final - and a box office Sunday showdown with Novak Djokovic - by ruthlessly beating third seed Daniil Medvedev 6-3 6-3 6-3, the tidy symmetry of the scoreline as flawless as his play.

They don't play a lot of cricket in Murcia but Alcaraz is an impulsive risk-taking Bazball sort of tennis player ... Chazball, to adapt his Charly nickname, he famously doesn't like being called Carlos.

"I played at a really good level, it was one of my best matches on the Tour," he said.

"Playing a final at Wimbledon is going to be the best moment of my life, it's going to be an emotional moment.

"I always wanted to win the Grand Slams but this was always the most beautiful tournament when I was growing up and it was the one I wanted to win first."

He warms-up at full throttle, drinks from a bottle like it's the last water he'll ever taste, he is seemingly full pelt and unrelenting at everything.

There is even a raw power to his most deft drop shots, a trademark skill honed on the red clay of his home in El Palmar, a village in south-eastern Spain.

Russian Medvedev simply didn't stand a chance and was bullied off court in less than two hours, repeatedly shaking his head and muttering another bullet flew past him and dissected the line in a plume of chalk dust.

"He's a very strong player, if you compare him with the big three, Djokovic, Nadal and Federer, he's like them and he's only 20," said Medvedev.

"You have to play your absolute best to beat him, that's the only way you've got a chance really, if you aren’t on your very top level, he will win.

"It's going to be an interesting final between the best two players in the world, it's going to be tough for them both. It'll be a great match for the fans but I won't be watching it, it's too soon."

This is just Alcaraz's tenth Grand Slam tournament and already his second final. He won at his eighth attempt, at last year's US Open at Flushing Meadows, by contrast it took 23-time major winner Djokovic 12 appearances before he cracked it.

Alcaraz has reached six finals around the world this year and lost only once, to Britain's Cameron Norrie in Rio de Janeiro, his head-to-head stats with Djokovic are deadlocked at a win apiece.

This was the final both men wanted - the greatest of all-time against the player most likely to succeed him. It has all the sub-plots you need for an instant classic and is just what this rather grey Wimbledon needs.

For many players Djokovic has long haunted their nightmares but Alcaraz is embracing the task of preventing the Serbian, unbeaten on Centre Court for a decade, claiming a record equalling eighth title.

“Since I started playing tennis, I dreamed to play in the Wimbledon final, but it’s even more special playing against Novak," he added.

"It’s a final and there is no time to be afraid, no time to be tired. I will go for it and let’s see what happens. I'm going to keep dreaming.

"Everybody knows the legend he is. It’s gonna be really, really difficult but I will fight and I will believe in myself.

"I saw that he’s unbeaten since 2013 on this court, it’s going be a really tough challenge for me but I’m ready for it. If you want to be the best, you need to beat the best.

"I need to stay calm, not get nervous. I need to forget it's final against Novak. He has no weakness so it's going to be tough to find a way to beat him. I've got a day off to prepare and talk with my team, we'll try to find the way to win.

Alcaraz is already being labelled a generational player and while it's easy to get caught in the hype, it's surely too soon for such talk.

What is impressive is how quickly he learns. In a recent match at Queen's against lowly-ranked Arthur Rinderknech, he looked flat-footed and pedestrian on grass, only just edging a win. Ten matches and just a few weeks later, he is loving the lawns.

"I always liked to play on grass but now I like it even more," he joked.

Alcaraz was barely walking when Djokovic made his Wimbledon debut and has played just 165 professional matches to his opponent's 1268.

It's 22 years since a young Roger Federer beat world number one Pete Sampras, who was seeking his fifth straight title here, in Wimbledon's most famous changing of the guard.

Sampras never won again and Djokovic knows the sport's young pretenders are a ruthless bunch, all too eager to send him into a luxurious retirement.

Pull up a chair on Sunday, it'll be worth the watch.