Novak Djokovic cut an emotional figure after he fell to defeat in the Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz.
The seven-time champion was beaten 1-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 3-6 6-4 on Centre Court by the 20-year-old Spanish talent.
Fans in south-west London were treated to a thrilling finale in the men’s singles competition for 2023.
Both players produced real quality throughout the match and it was Alcaraz who came out on top this time round at Wimbledon.
Djokovic whent into the competition as the reigning champion and chasing Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slams and was gracious in defeat, even cracking some jokes early in the interview.
But when he was asked about his family must have felt during such a tense match the emotions came out.
He looked up to them in the crowd and said: “It’s nice to see my son still there, still smiling.”
The Serbian was then speechless and looked down towards the ground before shedding the tears.
“I love you,” he went on to add after the brief pause. “Thank you for supporting me and I’ll give you a big hug, and we can all love each other. Thank you.”
Beforehand, he offered his congratulations to Alcaraz after he won his first ever Wimbledon title and second Grand Slam.
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 16, 2023
“Good afternoon to everyone, not so good for me but good for Carlos. I have to start with praises to Carlos and his team. What a quality at the end of the match when you had to serve it out.
“You can up with some big plays in the big situation and you absolutely deserve it. Amazing.”
He added: “I thought I would have trouble with you only on clay and hard court, but not on grass but now it’s a different story from this year obviously.
Advertisement
“Congrats, amazing way to adapt to the surface. You played maybe one or twice. Amazing, what you did in Queen’s and congratulations to everybody in your team.”
AFP
