Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz defeated Serbian opponent and world number two player Novak Djokovic in five sets to win his first Wimbledon title. The match was played at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London.

Alcaraz, 20, became the third-youngest men’s winner after Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg.

Djokovic praised Alcaraz and congratulated him and his team on the feat. “I thought I was only going to have trouble with you on clay,” he jokes.

“It’s a tough one to swallow when you’re so close … but I lost to a better player and I have to congratulate him and move on stronger hopefully,” the Serbian tennis player said.

“These are the moments that we work for every single day to be able to play in the biggest stages and biggest courts, most important tournaments in the world. I have been blessed with so many incredible matches throughout my career so this is just another one for me in history books. So I am really really grateful, even though of course I did not win today. But I lost to a better player today and I have to congratulate him and move on, stronger hopefully,” Djokovic said.

The Serbian tennis player could not hold his tears while responding to a query about his family and team. He said it was nice to see his son, but held his head down as he could not speak more. The crowd shouted for the man who had a long reign at Wimbledon.

‘Dream come true’

“It’s a dream come true,” said Alcaraz as he accepted the winner’s trophy from Catherine, Princess of Wales.

He said he was proud of the work he and his team put in to win Wimbledon at just 20 years old. Alcaraz paid tribute to Djokovic and joked that the Serb was winning trophies before he was born.

“You inspired me a lot,” he said.

Alcaraz also spoke about his improvement on grass.

“I fell in love with grass. It’s amazing to play at this level in a really short period, just four tournaments on grass,” he said, “I am really happy with the work we put in. I learned fast and I’m proud.”

The 36-year-old Serbian had been indestructible on Wimbledon’s Centre Court for a decade but on Sunday he finally met his match as he ran out of ideas to stop young gun Alcaraz from hurtling towards the title.

After the 20-year-old had broken for a 2-1 lead in the fifth set with a stupendous passing shot winner, Djokovic’s racket felt the full force of his anger as he smashed it against the wooden net post to leave it in a mangled mess.

That earned Djokovic a second warning in the match, with the Serb also being cautioned earlier for taking too much time to launch into his serves.

But all that distraction failed to throw an inspired Alcaraz off course as he became the youngest man in 37 years to win the gilded Challenge Cup after Djokovic scooped a forehand into the net, leaving the Spaniard to collapse on to his back in his moment of triumph.

(With input from Reuters)