{"id":316426,"date":"2023-07-15T22:14:49","date_gmt":"2023-07-15T22:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=316426"},"modified":"2023-07-16T03:00:23","modified_gmt":"2023-07-16T03:00:23","slug":"djokers-incredible-praise-for-hungry-alcaraz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=316426","title":{"rendered":"Djoker's 'incredible' praise for 'hungry' Alcaraz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic<\/a> paid quite a compliment to Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before they\u2019ll face each other in the Wimbledon<\/a> final on Sunday night (AEST), Djokovic was asked to size up Alcaraz \u2014 and he compared the kid to himself.<\/p>\n

Pretty good company.<\/p>\n

AS IT HAPPENED:<\/strong> Wimbledon Women's Singles final – Jabeur v Vondrousova<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cHe\u2019s been incredibly successful in adapting to the surfaces and (to the) demands and challenges of opponents on a given day,\u201d Djokovic said.<\/p>\n

\"Novak<\/p>\n

\u201cI see this as a great trait, as a great virtue. I see this as one of my biggest strengths throughout my career, that I was able to constantly develop, adapt and adjust my game, depending on the challenges, basically. That\u2019s what he\u2019s doing very early on in his career.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Alcaraz's assessment of Djokovic?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has no weakness. He\u2019s a really complete guy, really complete player. He\u2019s amazing. He does nothing wrong on the court,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201cPhysically he\u2019s a beast. Mentally he\u2019s a beast. Everything is unbelievable for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The matchup on Centre Court at the All England Club to close the fortnight is absolutely the one both men expected. As did pretty much everyone else.<\/p>\n

What more could tennis fans ask for?<\/p>\n

Watch Wimbledon 2023 live and free on<\/strong><\/em> 9now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. Alternatively, you can stream every match live, ad-free and on demand on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, with centre court in 4K UHD.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Carlos<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s very motivated. He\u2019s young. He\u2019s hungry,\u201d Djokovic observed. \u201cI\u2019m hungry, too, so let\u2019s have a feast.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a showdown pitting one of the greatest players ever \u2014 statistically he is the greatest \u2014 in Djokovic, who is 36, against a rising new star in Alcaraz, who is 20. It is the widest age gap between two men's Grand Slam finalists since 1974, and Djokovic would become the oldest male champion at Wimbledon in the Open era.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz is ranked No.1, Djokovic is No. 2 (but has spent more weeks at No. 1 than anyone else, man or woman).<\/p>\n

The winner will re-take the mantle at the top of the world rankings.\ufeff<\/p>\n

They showed they\u2019re a cut above the rest with straight-set victories in Thursday\u2019s semifinals: Alcaraz never gave No.3 Daniil Medvedev a chance while beating him 6-3, 6-3, 6-3; Djokovic had a few tough spots he had to navigate but eliminated No.8 Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4).<\/p>\n

\"Alcaraz<\/p>\n

Medvedev went so far as to put Alcaraz in the category of the so-called Big Three of men's tennis: Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s kind of like them,\u201d Medvedev said.<\/p>\n

Djokovic has won 23 Grand Slam titles, more than any man in the century-plus history of tennis, and is seeking his men's-record-tying eighth at Wimbledon, including fifth in a row.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz is a generational talent, the first teenager to finish a year atop the ATP rankings. He won last year\u2019s US Open and now is bidding for a second major championship.<\/p>\n

On top of it all, this is a rematch from the Roland-Garros semifinals last month. The first two sets of that contest were deliciously entertaining, chock full of highlight-worthy shots by both.<\/p>\n

\"Did<\/p>\n

It was tense. It was tight. It was terrific.<\/p>\n

And then it all came apart at the seams when Alcaraz succumbed to full body cramps that he attributed, at least in part, to nerves from going up against Djokovic on that stage and with those stakes. Djokovic ran away with the victory there, taking each of the last two sets by a 6-1 score.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a very good match until he started struggling physically in Paris,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cWe really took the level of tennis very high. I think it was great for the audience and great for us players to be part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, Alcaraz wants another shot at Djokovic. He's been talking about it over the past fortnight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives you extra motivation. It's more special to play a final against a legend from our sport,\u201d Alcaraz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, if I win, it could be amazing for me \u2014 not only to win a Wimbledon title, but do it against Novak, would be super special.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic paid quite a compliment to Carlos Alcaraz. Before they\u2019ll face each other in the Wimbledon final on Sunday night (AEST), Djokovic was asked […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":316431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316426"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=316426"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":316440,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316426\/revisions\/316440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/316431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=316426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=316426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=316426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}