Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski broke the Grand Slam barrier in style Saturday at Wimbledon, where the top-seeded pairing outclassed Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos to lift their maiden major crown.

The Dutch-British team prevailed 6-4, 6-4 to spark emotional celebrations on Centre Court. Koolhof and Skupski’s imaginative returning earned them the only break of each set as they wrapped a 76-minute victory, their first in three Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with Granollers and Zeballos.

“[It’s] very special,” said Koolhof. “It started when the doors [to Centre Court] opened, and one and half hours later to hold this [trophy] is very, very special.”

“I don’t know what to say,” said Skpuski. “Growing up watching this amazing championships, starting off a young boy at Palmerston Tennis Club in Liverpool. Going out there with my dad, and then obviously growing up with my brother (Ken Skupski) who has been very influential in my career.

“This feeling at the moment doesn’t get better. Me and Wesley came together 18 months ago, and this year this was one of our goals. To win a Grand Slam. Now we’ve done it, it feels very special.”

Dominant all tournament 👏

The top seeds knock out Granollers/Zeballos 6-4 6-4 to claim the title 🏆 Wimbledon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Wimbledon | Wimbledon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Wimbledon

pic.twitter.com/HwnSaepqya

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 15, 2023

Koolhof and Skupski broke their opponents’ serve in the seventh game of the first set and the fifth game of the second, breakthroughs which they backed up with a dominant serving display. The duo faced just one break point and won 40 of 50 points behind their delivery overall.

The victory helped banish painful memories of Koolhof and Skupski’s previous major final as a team. The pair fell in straight sets to Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury at the US Open last September, but showed no sign of nerves on Saturday in London as it sealed victory to return to first place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings.

“[Our next goal] is to rock the [Champions’ Ball] tomorrow evening,” joked Koolhof, who also reached the 2020 US Open final alongside Nikola Mektic. “Obviously we have a few more tournaments to go this year. The US Open, the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin is obviously a goal. I was lucky enough to win it here in London in 2020, so I will do my best to get Neal on board and have that one as well.”

Skupski is the first Briton to triumph in the Wimbledon men’s doubles since Jonathan Marray in 2012, while Koolhof is the first Dutchman since Jean-Julien Rojer in 2015. It is another milestone in a meteoric rise for the team, which has now won nine tour-level titles since coming together at the start of the 2022 season.

Granollers and Zeballos were attempting to become the first Spaniard and Argentine, respectively, to win the Wimbledon men’s doubles crown. The pair was playing in their third major final, having also suffered championship-match defeat at the 2019 US Open and Wimbledon in 2021.

“We tried to win, but I think the guys really deserved it. They played much better than us,” said Zeballos. “They knew how to play under pressure, we didn’t… Right now I am a little bit sad, but before the week, if I had to sign for [reaching the] final, of course I would do it every time.”

“We’ve had good years together. Already our fourth season playing very good,” reflected Granollers. “We are trying hard every day to get these kinds of titles, so we will keep trying and practising hard to one day get this one.”

It’s the Wimbledon final we’ve all been anticipating — even the players themselves, as Carlos Alcaraz admitted earlier this fortnight. The meeting between World No. 1 Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic, who is chasing a calendar-year Grand Slam, was never really in doubt, such was their respective dominance in advancing to the title round.

Both men have lost just two sets in six wins at The Championships, and both played their very best tennis on Friday in a pair of straight-sets semi-final victories — Djokovic against Jannik Sinner and then Alcaraz against Daniil Medvedev.

It sets up an “ultimate showdown”, as Djokovic called it, that promises to be monumental in both its quality and its significance. In addition to deciding who will lift the Wimbledon title — Djokovic is bidding for his fifth straight and eighth overall, while Alcaraz will contest his first final on Centre Court — the matchup will determine who leaves London atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

It won’t be Alcaraz’s first rodeo in that respect: The No. 1 spot was also on the line when he beat Casper Ruud in his first major final at last year’s US Open. But a win against Djokovic, owner of a record 23 Grand Slam mens’ singles titles, might be even more significant.

“It gives you extra motivation. I think it’s more special to play a final against a legend from our sport,” Alcaraz said of the matchup. “If I win, it could be amazing for me. Not only to win a Wimbledon title but to do it against Novak would be super special.”

Most Grand Slam Men’s Singles Titles

The 20-year-old Spaniard, 16 years Djokovic’s junior, is on the fast track to becoming one of the all-time greats of the sport himself. (The age gap is the third largest in a men’s major final.) Alcaraz has already proven his otherworldly talent on hard and clay courts, but this year his game has begun to sprout on the grass. Djokovic singled out his opponent’s successful adaptation on the lawns for particular praise, noting similarities to himself in that regard.

“I don’t think many people expected him to play so well [on grass] because his game is basically built and constructed and developed for clay mostly or slower hard courts. But he’s been incredibly successful in adapting to the surfaces and demands and challenges of opponents on a given day,” the Serbian said of Alcaraz.

“I see this as a great trait, as a great virtue. I see this as one of my biggest strengths throughout my career, that I was able to constantly develop, adapt, and adjust my game depending on the challenges basically. That’s what he’s doing very early on in his career.”

There is one key area where Alcaraz must evolve in order to avenge his semi-final defeat to Djokovic at Roland Garros. In Paris, the Spaniard had the wind in his sails after outplaying his opponent down the stretch of the second set. But with the match level at one-set all, Alcaraz began to suffer from cramp — an issue he blamed on nerves rather than fatigue.

The Spaniard is at his best when he is playing with a smile on his face. But his joy was diminished by the gravity of his semi-final showdown against Djokovic — the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting at a major.

“I’ll try to pull out all nerves, try to enjoy that moment, because probably in the semi-final at the French Open I didn’t enjoy at all in the first set,” said Alcaraz, who will talk with his psychologist as part of his preparations for the final. “I’ll do something different from that match. I’ll prepare the match a little bit different from French Open. It’s going to be different for me. I hope not to get cramp during the final. I think I’ll be better on Sunday.”

The final push 👊Wimbledon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Wimbledon | #wimbledon | @carlosalcaraz pic.twitter.com/kFZqb136xh

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 14, 2023

While Alcaraz was the favourite in that Roland Garros matchup, he’ll face a different kind of pressure as the underdog at Wimbledon, where Djokovic is riding a 34-match winning streak. Adding to the stress is the size of the task before him: breaking down Djokovic’s watertight grass-court game.

“I have to get deep into [my tactics] because Novak has no weakness, so it’s going to be really tough to find the way to be danger for him,” the Spaniard said. “He’s a really complete player. He’s amazing. He does nothing wrong on the court. Physically he’s a beast. Mentally he’s a beast. Everything is unbelievable for him,” Alcaraz later added.

Djokovic has lost just three service games in his six Wimbledon wins this year, saving 16 of 19 break points. He had never been broken fewer than five times en route to any of his previous 34 Grand Slam finals. Alcaraz has dropped serve six times on 25 break points against.

2023 Tour-Level Wins Leaders

In addition to his excellence on the court at Wimbledon, Djokovic has also proven to be quite the performer in front of the microphone this fortnight. Prior to his quarter-final win against Andrey Rublev, he trialled a joke about his opponent’s “scary” grunts in the press room. After his win, he delivered a fine-tuned version of the line in front of the Centre Court crowd.

In that same on-court interview, the 36-year-old dropped one of the lines of the fortnight, describing the younger generation’s efforts to dethrone him at Wimbledon: “I know that they want to get a scalp, they want to win. But it ain’t happening, still,” he said with perfect comedic timing. “Very humble!”

As good as that was, Djokovic might have one-upped himself with his closing remarks in press, previewing the final.

“He’s very motivated. He’s young. He’s hungry,” he said of Alcaraz. 

“I’m hungry, too, so let’s have a feast!” he added with a smile.

Daniil Medvedev was not quite sure how to feel after his best Wimbledon run ended with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 semi-final defeat to Carlos Alcaraz on Friday. Though he fell two wins short of his second Grand Slam title, the World No. 3 advanced beyond the fourth round for the first time at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, meaning he has now reached at least the quarter-finals at all four majors.

“If one would ask me [before the tournament], ‘Are you happy with the semi-final?’ I’m like yes and no,” he said in his post-match press conference. “For sure if I’m in the semi-finals, I want to win it. I want to play against Novak on Sunday. I want to try to hold the trophy.

“But it’s my best Wimbledon so far. Normally on grass I didn’t feel amazing. These two weeks I felt great. I’m trying usually after the losses to find the positives. I was in the four best players of the tournament, together with amazing players: Jannik [Sinner], Novak [Djokovic], and Carlos.”

Medvedev felt he put in a respectable showing against Alcaraz. Unfortunately for him, it was not enough to seriously trouble the top player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

“He’s a very strong player,” Medvedev said of his opponent. “I would say in general to compare like the Big 3, they’re amazing, they win so many Grand Slams, they win so many matches. He’s kind of like them. He’s still 20. Already has one Grand Slam. Playing great. Been No. 1 for many, many weeks.

“At the same time, I managed before in my career to beat the best players in the world, including some of the Big 3… You have to play your best. You have to play your absolute best.

“I didn’t play bad, but I didn’t play my absolute best. Against someone like Carlos, Novak, Rafa, you need to be at your best. Maybe against other guys you can be playing not bad, you’re going to have your chances, during the match you’re going to find something to work with. With Carlos, you need to be at your absolute best and that’s how you can win. Unfortunately, I was not.”

While Medvedev said he had some struggles adapting to the Centre Court conditions after four previous matches on No. 1 Court, he gave full credit to Alcaraz for his emphatic victory.

“He was putting pressure,” Medvedev said. “I was doing some second serves 100 miles per hour. Pretty decent second serves. He was crushing them. I tried.”

Though Medvedev will not watch the final as he digests his defeat, he thinks Alcaraz has a real chance of ending Djokovic’s Wimbledon reign on Sunday.

“It’s a very great match. I’m not going to lie, it’s a very great match to watch, but I’m not going to watch it because I’m going to be too disappointed to not be there,” he said. “I lost. I don’t deserve to be there in the final because I didn’t win today.”

Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic will meet Sunday in an epic Centre Court clash at Wimbledon to decide the 2023 champion at the grass-court major. Both will be competing with double motivation at the All England Club, with the pair’s third Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting doubling up as a winner-takes-all battle for World No. 1.

It will be another exciting chapter in a yo-yo year at the top of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The No. 1 position has changed hands between Alcaraz and Djokovic six times already in 2023, the most in a season since 2018 (seven), with the Spaniard most recently reclaiming top spot after lifting his first grass-court ATP Tour title at The Queen’s Club just under three weeks ago.

Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings

Alcaraz currently leads Djokovic by 80 points in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. It will be the second time he has contested a major final knowing victory would also guarantee him World No. 1. He defeated Casper Ruud in the 2022 US Open championship match last September to rise to the top of the tennis mountain for the first time.

Should he triumph for a fifth consecutive year at Wimbledon, Djokovic will on Monday begin his record-extending 390th week atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Alcaraz is this week spending his 28th week at World No. 1. That tally places him 16th on the all-time list, ahead of ATP greats including Mats Wilander, Andy Roddick and Boris Becker.

Novak Djokovic punched his ticket to his 35th major final Friday when he cruised past Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon semi-finals. Despite holding a record 23 major titles, the Serbian is motivated to once again add to his trophy collection Sunday when he meets World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in a match that will decide who tops the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday.

“Ambition is always the highest for me: always to win the title. It’s not changing regardless of the place in history books,” Djokovic said in his post-match press conference. “Maybe some people think that it would be a huge relief for me winning Roland Garros, being the only men’s tennis player with 23 slams. It’s not.”

Riding a 34-match winning streak at The All England Club, Djokovic is bidding to tie Roger Federer’s record eight Wimbledon crowns as well as joining the Swiss great and Bjorn Borg as the only players to win five consecutive men’s singles titles at the grass-court major. Djokovic stated that despite his experience playing on the final day of the tournament, he will still feel the weight of playing a high-stakes match.

“Pressure is there, it’s still very high,” Djokovic said. “I still feel goosebumps and butterflies and nerves coming into every single match. So I’m going to be coming into Sunday’s final like it’s my first. I don’t want to approach the final in any more relaxed way than I have in previous ones, meaning the intention needs to be clear. Goal and approach will be as serious and professional as it has always been.”

The 36-year-old has a clear priority: bringing his best level to the season’s four majors. Djokovic has captured the Wimbledon title six of the past eight years (event not held in 2020). This year, the Belgrade native has won the first two Slams of the year, triumphing at the Australian Open and last month at Roland Garros. Can Djokovic make it a trifecta by lifting the silver gilt cup?

“It’s no secret that Grand Slams are the highest priority for me, the highest goals on my priority list,” Djokovic said. “Every time I start the season, I want to peak at these four tournaments. I try to organise my schedule, training schedule, and my preparation weeks, and all the tournaments, according to these priorities. Last several years, my Grand Slam seasons are amazing. The results are fantastic.

“I have a good team of people around me. We do things in a proper way on a daily basis. I think that gives us benefits when we get to the later stages of a Grand Slam. Most of the players are probably exhausted a bit physically, mentally, or maybe they don’t feel like they can go a step further. I feel that the job is not finished until I lift the trophy.”

Djokovic’s ability to hold his nerve during pressure points is part of why he has won 27 consecutive matches at major tournaments. Such mental fortitude has also helped him become the first player in the Open Era to win 14 consecutive tie-breaks at the majors in a single season. Djokovic broke Pete Sampras’ record (12) in the fourth round against Hubert Hurkacz, and extended his streak by closing out his semi-final against Sinner in a third-set tie-break.

“I am aware of the tie-break streak. I think the longer the streak goes, I guess mentally the more resilient or tougher I am in these particular situations,” Djokovic said. “Coming into every tie-break now, I feel more comfortable than my opponent just because of the record. I think that my opponents also know about that record. That mentally makes a difference.”

On Sunday, Djokovic will meet Alcaraz, a man 16 years his junior, in a winner-takes-all championship match with World No. 1 also on the line. Djokovic won their most recent meeting in the Roland Garros semi-finals to level their Lexus ATPHead2Head series at 1-1. Alcaraz reclaimed World No. 1 from Djokovic when he won the Queen’s title late last month. Sunday will be the first time Djokovic and Alcaraz meet in a final.

“This is probably the most anticipated final from the beginning of the tournament, [for] most of the people. Alcaraz, myself,” Djokovic said. “It will be his first final at Wimbledon. We are both in good form. We’re both playing well.

“Yes, I do have more experience playing in many more Grand Slam or Wimbledon finals than him. Still, he’s in great shape. He’s very motivated. He’s young. He’s hungry. I’m hungry, too, so let’s have a feast!”

Did You Know?
Djokovic is just the third player in the Open Era (since 1968) to reach the Wimbledon men’s singles final aged 36 or older, after his great rival Federer and Ken Rosewall. By reaching his 35th championship match at a Grand Slam event, Djokovic claimed sole ownership of the record for reaching the most major finals, ahead of former WTA star Chris Evert (34).