Stat of the Year, No. 3: Carlos Alcaraz puts an end to the Big 4’s domination of Wimbledon

This year’s Wimbledon final was a battle between the Top 2 players in the world at the time, No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 2 Novak Djokovic. Despite being No. 2, all signs pointed to a Djokovic win—he had won his last 27 matches in a row at Grand Slams, his last 34 matches in a row at Wimbledon and an all-time record 45 matches in a row on Centre Court, specifically.

But with a grueling 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 victory, Alcaraz put an end to all of those streaks, as well as one other one—he became the first man other than the "Big 4" of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray to win Wimbledon since 2002, which was before he was even born.

The last man outside the Big 4 to win Wimbledon was Lleyton Hewitt in '02. Alcaraz was born 10 months later in May 2003.

Alcaraz is now 2-0 in his career in Grand Slam finals after his triumph at Wimbledon this year.

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WIMBLEDON MEN’S CHAMPIONS (2002-2023):

2002: Lleyton Hewitt
2003: Roger Federer
2004: Roger Federer
2005: Roger Federer
2006: Roger Federer
2007: Roger Federer
2008: Rafael Nadal
2009: Roger Federer
2010: Rafael Nadal
2011: Novak Djokovic
2012: Roger Federer
2013: Andy Murray
2014: Novak Djokovic
2015: Novak Djokovic
2016: Andy Murray
2017: Roger Federer
2018: Novak Djokovic
2019: Novak Djokovic
2020: [tournament not held]
2021: Novak Djokovic
2022: Novak Djokovic
2023: Carlos Alcaraz

Alcaraz was also the third-youngest man to win Wimbledon in the Open Era after Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg, and the second Spanish man to win Wimbledon in the Open Era after Nadal.

Check back tomorrow for our No. 2 Stat of the Year…