Alcaraz will long regret letting Djokovic off the hook at 7-5 4-2 up in the final of the Cincinnati Open
He’s back! Novak Djokovic’s shirt-ripping celebration on Sunday night had a cartoonish vibe that matched the larger-than-life exploits we had just seen on the court.
By defeating his latest challenger Carlos Alcaraz across an astonishing 3h 49min – the longest ATP final in history – Djokovic reminded us that his career has played like a two-decade blockbuster. As Graham Gooch once said to Ian Botham, “Who writes your scripts?”
Above all, this 5-7, 7-6, 7-6 victory in the Cincinnati final proved that the rise of another credible rival – a youthful successor to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal – has not diminished Djokovic’s motivation one jot.
Quite the reverse, in fact: he looks inspired by the rise of another giant-in-the-making. When you have already clocked up 1,069 professional wins, routine straight-setters no longer get you out of bed.