“Seemed like Novak Djokovic was in a hurry” – Andy Roddick highlights mistakes of ‘smarter’ Serb against Carlos Alcaraz in Wimbledon final

Andy Roddick recently highlighted the mistakes he felt cost Novak Djokovic the 2024 Wimbledon men's singles final against Carlos Alcaraz. Djokovic lost the match to Alcaraz in straight sets.

The finalists stepped on Centre Court to fight for the coveted grasscourt title for the second year in a row. The outcome didn't change as Alcaraz secured the trophy but the Serb produced an inferior effort to the one he managed last year.

He lost Sunday's (July 14) match 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4) whereas it took Alcaraz five sets to overcome the Serb in the previous year's final. Andy Roddick, in a recent episode of the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, dissected the runner-up's performance.

Roddick expressed astonishment while claiming the 24-time Grand Slam champion didn't opt for longer rallies, a tactic that has been his strength over the years.

"What I was a little surprised about with Novak and you don’t know if he just… listen he’s smarter than I’ll ever be in this game so you’re not questioning, you’re just wondering what the factors are with the decision to play a certain way," he said (1.30).

"Novak for his entire career has been the master of kind of extending points, playing within himself, forcing you to attack from tough positions, and today I felt like whether it was the serve and volley, whether it was going line very early, not sticking Carlos into that backend to backend rally, it seemed like Novak was in a hurry to get out of that," Roddick added.

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"Surprised Novak Djokovic didn’t put more volume on Carlos Alcaraz's backhand" - Andy Roddick

Novak Djokovic (Getty)

Novak Djokovic, who recently recovered from knee surgery, suffered five break points against Carlos Alcaraz in the 2024 Wimbledon final, winning only 66 percent of his first-serve points and averaging 40 on the second-serve.

In the aforementioned episode of the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, Roddick questioned the Serb's aggressive game plan and the fact that he didn't challenge Alcaraz's backhand side enough times.

"I don’t fully understand, maybe his read on the first couple of points getting bullied, obviously the knee issue, he must know something that we don’t. I was surprised how quickly he went to that all-out aggressive play," he said (2.09).

"I didn’t mind the coming in, I didn’t mind the approaching line but kind of taking random shots line very very early in rallies in a very aggressive nature, not wanting to switch the direction of rally. I’m surprised he didn’t put more volume on Carlos’ backhand," Roddick added.

Notably, this was Novak Djokovic's first straight-set loss to Carlos Alcaraz with their head-to-head now balanced at 3-3.