Andy Murray is in disagreement with Novak Djokovic‘s coach, Goran Ivanisevic, over whether Carlos Alcaraz‘s Wimbledon win symbolises the start of a new era in men’s tennis. In prevailing at SW19, the prodigious Spaniard inflicted Djokovic’s first defeat on Centre Court for over a decade.
Very few have gone to war with Djokovic at the All England Club and come out victorious. This year, the Serb was gunning for a record-equalling eighth men’s title, and he looked nigh on invincible en route to the final.
Once there, world No 1 Alcaraz emerged triumphant in an epic five-set battle to notch the second Grand Slam win of his career. Even so, Ivanisevic refused to entertain talk that it meant the start of a brand new era.
“Those stories are already a bit stupid,” he told Sportske Novosti. “The change of generation has been going on for six or seven years.
“If we look at [Daniil] Medvedev, [Andrey] Rublev, [Karen] Khachanov, [Denis] Shapovalov, Felix [Auger-Aliassime], [Jannik] Sinner, Alcaraz, [Holger] Rune… Alcaraz has been here for two years, but, let’s say, Medvedev has been here for five or six years, he is 27 years old. They are not from yesterday.”
By comparison, Murray is more convinced that Alcaraz’s grass-court triumph represented a changing of the guard. “You could argue it’s the start of a new era,” he told The Times.
Returning to action at the Citi Open earlier this week, Murray made it past Brandon Nakashima in straight sets but ultimately fell against top-seeded American Taylor Fritz.
The Scot’s next outing will be in Canada next week as he continues his hard-court preparation ahead of the US Open, which gets underway at the end of August.
