Izuchukwu OkosiCarlos Alcaraz made a startling comeback on Sunday evening from a set down to defeat Novak Djokovic 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in the final of the 2023 men’s Wimbledon final at the All England Court.
The 20-year-old Alcaraz won the U.S. Open last year in thrilling fashion and went into the Wimbledon as the number one ranked tennis player on the ATP.
Djokovic is the proud winner of 23 grandslam titles but Alcaraz is the standard-bearer of the next group of players that is supposed to move the sport beyond the era of the Big Three, an era that includes Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic.
“It’s great for the new generation,” Alcaraz who withdrew from the Australian Open to nurse an injury and was defeated by Djokovic in the semifinals at the French Open said to the media.
“It’s a dream come true for me,” said Alcaraz, who also prevented Djokovic from replacing him at No. 1 in Monday’s Pepperstone ATP Rankings with his win.
“As I said before, of course it’s great to win, but even if I had lost, I would be really proud of myself with this amazing run. Making history in this beautiful tournament, playing a final against a legend of our sport.
“It’s a dream come true to be able to play on these stages. It’s amazing for a boy, 20 years old, to reach this kind of situation really fast. I’m really, really proud of myself and the team that I have. The work we put in every day, to be able to lift this.”
“To see me beating him and making them think that they are capable to do it,” the Spaniard added.
Last month, Djokovic, finally eclipsed his longtime rivals, Nadal and Federer. But this loss cost him a shot at one of the few prizes he has not achieved — becoming the first player since 1969 to achieve the Grand Slam in men’s singles, winning all four major tournaments in a single year.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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