What Carlos Alcaraz must do next after battering Novak Djokovic into submission
Alcaraz must now quickly refocus, though, because tennis never stops, and he needs to keep looking forward if he wants to truly end the Big Three era for good.
Rafael Nadal, 38, will soon hang up his racket following Roger Federer’s retirement in 2022 – but Djokovic, 37, is adamant that he wants to continue and keep fighting this new generation of youngsters who are slowly overtaking him.
There is the small matter of the Olympic Games coming up around the corner, with the huge tennis tournament getting underway on the Paris clay on July 24. Djokovic is already gearing up for that event and has vowed to give it everything he’s got, given it is realistically his final chance to deliver a gold medal for Serbia.
The 37-year-old may not be thinking about retirement just yet, but he surely will not be an active player when the next Olympics rolls around in four years’ time, and possibly missing out on gold to Alcaraz could make him reconsider his plans.
Alcaraz, of course, will be battling for gold and is arguably the favourite to do it in singles after he became just the sixth man in the Open Era to land a Channel Slam on Sunday, winning the French Open and Wimbledon titles back-to-back. But there are several things Alcaraz needs to do to ensure that he stays on this upwards trajectory that’s seen him land four major titles by the age of just 21.
