By Richard Pagliaro| @Tennis_Now | Sunday, August 20, 2023
An exhausted Carlos Alcaraz shed tears after bowing to Novak Djokovic in an epic.
Afterward, Alcaraz said the pain turned to pride he felt pouring his passion into a match for the ages.
The 36-year-old Djokovic denied a championship point out-dueling Alcaraz in a dramatic 5-7, 7-6(7), 7-6(4) triumph in the Cincinnati final spanned three hours, 49 minutes.
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World No. 1 Alcaraz teared up after the match, showing deep emotion thanking his brother, Alvaro, for his support.
"I feel proud of myself, honestly. I talking and I don't know why I was crying because I fight until the last ball," Alcaraz said. "I almost beat one of the greatest of all time from our sport.
"It's crazy to talk about it right now, but I left the court really, really happy what I did. Of course, I've been talking with my coach, my team, that we are so, so proud of ourselves."
This rematch of the Wimbledon final exceeded the blockbuster hype escalating into a rousing roller-coaster ride.
Djokovic, who rallied from a one-set 2-4 deficit and saved a championship at 5-6 in the second-set tiebreaker, dug in with defiance refusing to give up ground.
In the end, the Grand Slam king praised Alcaraz's fighting spirit.
"The feeling that I have on the court reminds me a little bit when I was facing Nadal when we were at our prime of our careers," Djokovic said. "Each point is a hustle. Each point is a battle. You feel like you're not going to get maybe in total five free points in the entire match.
"You've got to basically earn every single point, every single shot, regardless of the conditions."
This riveting rivalry now stands deadlocked at 2-2 with both men—and much of the tennis world—hoping they square off again at the US Open where Alcaraz aims to defend his maiden major.
"Today was really, really difficult playing against Novak," Alcaraz said. "I mean, he always put almost five, six, seven balls in every point. So fighting and running from one corner to other one every point is really tough to deal with it almost the whole match.
"I try to stay there, to stay good physically, but it was tough. As I said, I left everything on court. For me, obviously it's great that he knows that every time he's going to play against me, reminds him playing against Rafa or against the best ones because that means we are in a good path."
Photo credit: Michael Hickey/Getty