US Open 2023: With Serena and Federer retired, Alcaraz-Djokovic symbolizes a transition in tennis

Primarily based on the reactions on social media, it appears everybody on this planet of tennis was riveted by Novak Djokovic’s victory over Carlos Alcaraz within the last of the final match for each forward of the U.S. Open.

It was a titanic, 3½-hour-plus showdown between the 2 titans of the boys’s recreation for the time being — the third time they’ve performed one another in Djokovic’s previous three occasions, every on a special floor — and set the stage for what might be an anticipated assembly to find out the champion at Flushing Meadows, the place play begins Monday and finishes on Sept. 10.

Final weekend’s contest on the hard-court Cincinnati Masters, through which Djokovic, who’s 36, saved a championship level within the second set and Alcaraz, who’s 20, saved 4 within the third earlier than succumbing 5-7, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4), additionally served to represent the state of change the game presently finds itself in, a yr faraway from Serena Williams’ farewell match in New York and Roger Federer’s retirement announcement quickly thereafter.

Alcaraz is The Subsequent Massive Factor, the winner of the 2022 U.S. Open who grabbed his second Grand Slam title final month at Wimbledon by beating — sure, that’s proper — Djokovic. And Djokovic, the proprietor of 23 main trophies, is the one member of The Massive Three competing these days, what with Federer (who has 20) accomplished and Rafael Nadal (22) out since January with a hip downside however eyeing a return for one final hurrah in 2024.

“For thus a few years, the sport has been dominated by legends of the game, however Father Time is undefeated. Everybody has to sort of go on to their subsequent stage they usually need to put the rackets down. We’re seeing that sadly with Serena, with Roger, with Rafa. There may be going to be a little bit of a transition interval,” stated Chris Eubanks, a 27-year-old from Atlanta who reached the Wimbledon males’s quarterfinals. “It leaves a variety of parity and it leaves a variety of alternatives for different gamers within the males’s and ladies’s video games to sort of make a reputation for themselves.”

No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek, who’s 22, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, 25, and No. 4 Elena Rybakina, 24, seem poised to remain close to the highest of the ladies’s recreation — Swiatek already has gained 4 Slam titles, together with the 2022 U.S. Open; the others have one apiece — and No. 6 Coco Gauff, simply 19, may be able to etch her identify on one of many 4 most prestigious trophies in tennis.

Nonetheless, none has established herself as a definitive inheritor to Williams.

“There’s a shift,” stated France’s Caroline Garcia, who reached the semifinals in New York a yr in the past. “There are younger gamers coming, like Alcaraz and Iga.”

The game’s leaders hope somebody will step ahead.

“For these of you who’ve lengthy questioned about the way forward for tennis as we transition out of a golden age the place you may have had a number of the finest women and men of all-time competing towards one another concurrently,” stated Lew Sheer, the CEO and govt director of the U.S. Tennis Affiliation, the nationwide federation that runs the U.S. Open, “we noticed 2022 as a yr of rising stars.”

Maybe. It is true there have been 10 first-time Masters 1000 champions on the boys’s aspect over the previous three seasons, a bunch that features Alcaraz, in fact, but additionally one other 20-year-old, Holger Rune, and Jannik Sinner, 22.

“We’re beginning to see new faces on the Grand Slams and Masters. It’s sort of the final step to dethrone gamers like Djokovic and Nadal — and it’s coming,” stated Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 23-year-old Canadian who was a U.S. Open semifinalist two years in the past. “Carlos in all probability is starting a little bit of a swap of the guard. However Djokovic in all probability hasn’t stated his final phrase.”

That definitely seemed to be Djokovic’s message in Cincinnati, the place he ripped off his shirt and roared after lastly dispatching Alcaraz.

All in all, it was excellent preparation for Djokovic as he returns to the U.S. Open after being unable to journey to america final yr as a result of he is not vaccinated towards COVID-19.

Djokovic stated going through Alcaraz reminded him of taking up Nadal of their primes — which was fairly a while in the past.

“Boy, you by no means quit, man. Jesus Christ,” Djokovic stated, drawing fun from Alcaraz not lengthy after the Spaniard was crying right into a towel.

“I imply, I really like that about you, however typically I want that you simply’d possibly play just a few factors identical to this, you already know?” Djokovic continued, waving his proper hand with out objective.

Alcaraz provided good phrases, too.

“I discovered lots,” he informed Djokovic, “from a champion such as you.”

___

Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis author since 2002.

___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis