Rafael Nadal has issued a scathing critique of Novak Djokovic’s tactics following his straight-sets defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final. The young Spanish sensation clinched the title with a dominant performance, making history as the youngest man in the Open era to win both the French Open and Wimbledon consecutively.

Nadal, who was instrumental in his illustrious career, didn’t hold back in his assessment of Djokovic’s strategy in a hard-hitting column for El Pais. He expressed understanding for the difficult choices faced by Djokovic, 37, and his team when up against a “superior opponent.”

“Do we face it with our usual weapons and our own style or, on the contrary, do we try to neutralize our opponent by looking for other solutions by moving away from our characteristic game?” Nadal wrote. “Personally, I always chose the first. If it is already difficult to play well doing what one is used to doing, it has always seemed much more difficult to me to do well, and even more so in a final, which is not my custom.”

Nadal criticized Djokovic for trying to go toe-to-toe with his much younger opponent. “Knowing that neither his legs nor the precision of his strokes were what they once were, and that a long and physical match would not help him either, he tried a tactic that ultimately proved suicidal. He wanted to impose a high tempo, play aggressively, shorten the exchanges from the back of the court, and at the slightest opportunity, close out the points at the net. In my opinion, the only option the Serbian had was to try to slow down the game.”

Nadal also suggested that Djokovic is no longer Alcaraz’s main rival, stating, “Perhaps only Jannik Sinner can play the Spaniard on equal terms. And, in fact, this Sunday’s final confirms that the real rivalry in the next tournaments and, probably, in the next few years will be between these two: the Italian and our great Spanish champion.”

Alcaraz, at just 21, has now been hailed as the new torchbearer of Spanish tennis, stepping into the shoes previously filled by Nadal. With his triumph over Djokovic, Alcaraz has firmly established himself as a formidable force in the tennis world, and Nadal’s comments only underscore the growing anticipation for his future matches.