A non-Grand Slam match for the ages was on display on Sunday, August 20 as Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic played a jaw-dropping clash. The two fierce competitors, one an already established great of the sport and the other touted as the next big thing, took on each other in the final of the Cincinnati Open at the Centre Court of the Linder Family Tennis Centre in Ohio. In what turned out to be a humdinger for the fans, Djokovic edged past the young prodigy Alcaraz in three sets that lasted close to four hours.
The two had met each other in the final of Wimbledon 2023 where Djokovic was bidding for his 24th Grand Slam and a rising Alcaraz from Spain, who looked for his second. Alcaraz edged past in a thrilling five-set encounter. The Cincinnati one was not a Grand Slam match but had the perfect recipes to be a match to be remembered for a long time. Serb great Djokovic bounced back from being a set and a break down in the finale but then made a statement in the next games. The match went like a pendulum and Alcaraz was 2-4 trailing in the first set before winning five of the next six games to win the opening set.
He broke the Serb great in the second one but the match then went into a tie-breaker. Alcaraz had a championship point with him in the second set tie-breaker but Djokovic managed to keep the youngster at bay. The 23-time Grand Slam winner had his own match points and not one or two but four, which were all saved by the Spaniard. But Alcaraz could not save the fifth one falling 5-7, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4) to Djokovic in a three-hour 49-minute-marathon game.
After the game, Alcaraz was seen in tears as he sat on his chair with a towel on his face. Watch the Video here.
