The final match of the Wimbledon Championships took the world on a trip to nostalgia, thanks to Carlos Alcaraz. The young Spaniard beat Novak Djokovic in a Herculean 5-set match that went on for 5 long hours. While the world was in high anticipation of Djokovic’s 24th Slam, Alcaraz carved his own path. Though he broke various records, he is still not the youngest player to win Wimbledon. Neither is ‘The King of Grass’ Roger Federer. The record was created nearly 16 years ago, but it rarely surfaces online.
The young Spaniard equaled the record of Venus Williams by winning his first Grass Slam title at just 20. But there is another deeply etched record in the All-England Lawn Tennis Club history that is yet to be broken.
The youngest player earned the Wimbledon singles crown before turning 16
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Federer will always be the Wimbledon wizard with 8 titles. But he is not the youngest to win the title. His compatriot and fellow tennis legend, Martina Hingis, won her first Major and Grass Slam title in 1997 when she was just 15 years and 9 months old. She beat Jana Novotna 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, who was looking to claim the title, as she lost to Steffi Graf in the 1996 Wimbledon finals. Hingis is also the youngest ever to win a Grand Slam at just 16 years old.
Carlos Alcarez and Venus Williams both won the Wimbledon title at the age of 20.
However Swiss tennis player Martina Hingis is the youngest person ever to win Wimbledon when she took the title in 1997 at the age of 16.
— Sports Radio Brila FM (@Brilafm889) July 16, 2023
The Swiss legend created the record after claiming the 1997 Australian Open title. 1997 was game-changing season for the 42-year-old and also for tennis. A new record, a new champion, a new world number one, everything happened in that year. Hingis went on to win the US Open and also reached the finals of the French Open in 1997. She rose to the first place in the ranking table and held on to it for 209 weeks over the course of her career.
Again, she became the youngest player to be the WTA number 1. Hingis also won the 1998 Australian Open title, winning four of her five Slams played. But her singles career was short-lived due to an injury. The next decade witnessed the rise of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, and Queen V, much like how Alcaraz and even Mirra Andreeva have started to create history at present.
The young winners of Wimbledon, from Boris Becker to Carlos Alcaraz
Boris Becker was the youngest ATP player to win a Grass Slam Singles at just 17 years old, in 1985. He defended his title the next year, too, winning two consecutive Wimbledon titles at just 17 and 18 years old. In 1998, Serena Williams won her first Grand Slam and became the youngest player to win Mixed doubles at the age of 16.
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The present-generation players like Alcaraz, Coco Gauff, and the Russian sensation Andreeva were not even born when some of these records were created. Alcaraz was just 3 years old when his Wimbledon 2023 final opponent Djokovic won his 1st ATP title. Now the Spaniard became the 3rd youngest to win the prestigious title.
Andreeva was not even born when these records were made. But she became the youngest player in the Open Era to reach the 4th round of Wimbledon. Tennis is slowly witnessing a shift in momentum as younger players are taking center stage. This year’s Wimbledon witnessed new champions in both WTA and ATP.
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Are the younger players slowly replacing the legends?
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