This is the Wimbledon men’s final everyone wanted

Spain's Carlos Alcaraz reacts after scoring a point against Russia's Daniil Medvedev during their men's singles semi-final. Picture: AFP

Carlos Alcaraz is all over the shop. And he’s into a dream Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic.

The defending champion at the All England Club has played some breathtaking stuff. Ten out of ten. And he’s played some ordinary stuff. You’d give him a two. The tens have outnumbered the twos when he’s needed them and the 21-year-old Spanish phenomenon will face the 37-year-old legend, Djokovic, in a classic battle of the young and old bulls on Sunday. It’s the final everyone wanted.

A classic example of a two from Alcaraz came in the third set of his complicated 6-7 (1/7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 semi-final victory of Russian Daniil Medvedev. He had a smash he could have clobbered for a winner. That would be the sensible course of action. Instead, he went for a near-impossible drop smash. The ball bounced before it even hit the net. It was such a bad shot it was hilarious. The crowd laughed while Alcaraz put his head in his hands and grinned. What have I done?

“Sometimes I do it because I feel so nervous,” Alcaraz said. “It’s kind of things that relax me. I’ve got a smile on my face doing disasters, I’m going to say, or fun shots. Sometimes I have to go for the effective one instead of other options but that moment I was feeling really calm. I was feeling that I can do, you know, this kind of shot. Sometimes, as I say, it’s a disaster. But it helps me a lot to relax and smile. I’m having fun on the court. Sometimes it’s difficult to do the simple shots.”

Alcaraz’s concentration comes and goes. It’s like he gets bored with playing regulation tennis and becomes more interested in showing off his bag of tricks. He has every shot in the book and seemed intent on displaying the lot against Medvedev, who received a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct when he appeared to tell umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore, “f..k you,” in the first set.

Asderaki-Moore climbed from her chair and called the supervisor and the tournament referee to the court, which is highly unusual. While they were talking, All England Club member Tim Henman said in BBC commentary, “It could be a default.” Medvedev was allowed to continue.

“I said something in Russian. Not unpleasant,” Medvedev claimed. “Not over the line. So I got a code for it.”

Djokovic swamped Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 in Friday’s second semi-final to book a rematch with Alcaraz, who beat him in a five-set thriller in last year’s final. Djokovic is attempting to equal Roger Federer’s eighth Wimbledon title and become the oldest champion of the Open era.

“Wimbledon has always been a childhood dream to me,” he said. “I was a seven-year-old boy in Serbia and watching the bombs fly over my head and dreaming of being here at Wimbledon on the most important court in the world, telling myself I will be Wimbledon champion one day. It has been an incredible journey. I’m very satisfied and very pleased to be in another final but I don’t want to stop here. Hopefully I can get my hands on the trophy again.”