The GOAT is no match for the kid

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain successfully defended his title as men's singles champion at the Wimbledon tennis tournament outside of London yesterday. He defeated Novak Djokovic of Serbia, himself a seven-time holder of that title, in a rematch of last year's final.

But last year's match was close, and yesterday's wasn't. Alcaraz came out like Muhammad Ali in his prime, and took no prisoners. You could tell right away how pumped up he was when he was jumping around, taking big practice swings, during the pre-match coin toss ceremonies. Djokovic, at times looking serene by comparison, may have been hoping he could use his veteran smarts to counteract the 21-year-old's force and speed, but it was clear from the start that that was not going to happen. The Serb looked like a 37-year-old guy trying to hold back a freight train. The final scores were 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4).

This is the fourth major title for Carlitos, and it's a back-to-back win for him after the French Open last month. He was handed the trophy by Princess Kate, with Princess Charlotte in tow. If he stays healthy and fit, there will be many more. 

This year's Wimbledon will be remembered as the start of a post-dynastic period in which not only did the legends of the sport not win, but in fact few of them were even on the court at all. Federer, Nadal, Murray, the Williams sisters, even Barty – they're all mere spectators now. Lesser but still familiar names like Isner, Thiem, Schwartzman, Muguruza, and Giorgi are also disappearing from your scorecard.

The women's game in particular is utterly wide open at this point, and with the exception of the pair who made it to yesterday's final, the men seem equally unpredictable. Father Time is catching up to Novak, although he'll make some more noise once his knee has had time to cool off. From here on out, though, the one to beat is Alcaraz, who, not to jinx him, has dynasty written all over him. The guy's a beast. A friendly beast.

At this point, with England in the rear view mirror, we typically take a break from the racquets until the U.S. Open around Labor Day. But this year there's tennis in the Paris Olympics in between. Alcaraz and Djokovic are both planning to be there, although the Djoker's recent knee surgery might limit him or even sideline him. The current men's Olympic champ is Sascha Zverev of Germany; on the women's side, it's Belinda Bencic of Switzerland. Zverev says he'll play in Paris, albeit with a suspect knee himself; Bencic had a baby on April 23 and won't be competing this time around. 

This year, for the first time in 32 years, the Olympics will be played on clay courts. The full lineups are here (I think). There will doutblessly be some matches that we hard core spectators won't want to miss if the tape-delay gadgets work as expected. Productivity is overrated, anyway.