Novak Djokovic smashed his racket during the Wimbledon 2023 final (Twitter Image)
Novak Djokovic was full of fury in the fifth set as he smashed his racket at the net post during Wimbledon 2023 final against Carlos Alcaraz
The Wimbledon 2023 final went down to the wire, it was so close that it pushed Novak Djokovic over the edge. The Serbian was the favourite coming into the final, however, the 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz came up with a supreme performance that saw the Serbian go into complete meltdown. During the fifth set, Djokovic let out his fury as he smashed his racket into the net post in one of the dramatic moments during the centre-court showdown at SW19.
The incident occurred right in front of the chair umpire and the 23-time Grand Slam winner had earlier made his frustrations clear. Djokovic didn’t appear pleased with the umpire Fergus Murphy over the time clock for his serves.
And then when the crowd started to cheer for Alcaraz it seemed to push the veteran over the edge.
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The final itself was always likely to be a tight affair between the top two men’s singles players. The game had its own ebbs and flows as Djokovic took the opening set before going down 2-1.
On the cusp of history, needing one more Wimbledon title to equal Roger Federer’s tally of 8 titles, and his unbeaten record at SW19 all seemed to play a part in the Serbian’s outburst of emotions.
The last time Djokovic lost a Wimbledon final was more than a decade ago, in 2013 against Andy Murray, however, Alcaraz seemed to find an extra gear to pip the all-conquering Serbian.
During the fifth set, the crowd turned towards the Spaniard, every winner from Alcaraz was being cheered and the atmosphere seemingly got the better of Djokovic during the third game while he was on the serve.
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An Alcaraz winner put the Spaniard in control and Djokovic couldn’t keep calm as he smashed his racket (not for the first time) against the net post, straight under the eye of the umpire.
Alcaraz would go on to win the game which went well past four hours by a score of 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, taking home a handsome prize money of £2,350,000.