She presented men’s championship trophy to Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated Novak Djokovic in the final
Kate, the Princess of Wales, handed Carlos Alcaraz the champion’s trophy after the Wimbledon men’s final at the All England Club on Sunday in only her second public appearance since announcing she was diagnosed with cancer.
Kate, wife of heir to the throne Prince William, was greeted by a standing ovation when she arrived in the Royal Box at Centre Court to watch Alcaraz’s victory over Novak Djokovic. After leaving the court following the trophy ceremony, the princess and Alcaraz had a conversation in a room inside the tournament’s main stadium.
“You played so well,” Kate told him. “Enjoy the win.”
Djokovic vowed to get back to work after being outplayed by Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final Sunday less than 1 1/2 months after knee surgery, with the intention of contending for a gold medal at the Paris Olympics and a record 25th Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open.
“In the face of adversity, normally I rise and I learn and get stronger,” Djokovic said after his 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (4) loss to Alcaraz. “That’s what I’m going to do.”
Djokovic also was beaten by Alcaraz in last year’s Wimbledon final. The 37-year-old from Serbia is 23-7 without a title this season; Sunday was his first appearance in a final in 2024.
In Grand Slam play, he was eliminated by current No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open semifinals in January, then reached the quarterfinals at the French Open but needed to pull out before that round after tearing the meniscus in his right knee. He had an operation on June 5 and wasn’t sure he would be able to enter Wimbledon at all until a few days before the draw.
“My preparation for Wimbledon wasn’t as I would have it normally. … There was hindrance obviously because of the injury,” Djokovic said. “That probably had an effect, particularly in the opening rounds. But as the tournament progressed, I felt better and better. I reached the finals. Some matches I played some really good tennis. Some matches I kind of battled my way through. But today, I saw that I was just half a step behind him, in every sense.”
With a gray sleeve covering his right knee, Djokovic won just 27 of 53 points when he went to the net and finished with 26 winners to Alcaraz’s 42.
Djokovic was broken five times and only won one of the 21-year-old Alcaraz’s service games.
“Being able to reach the finals of Wimbledon … (is) a great confidence boost. But I also feel like in a matchup today against the best player right now in the world, for sure — I mean, other than Jannik, and both of them are the best this year by far — I feel like I’m not at that level,” Djokovic said.
“In order to really have a chance to, I guess, beat these guys in Grand Slam latter stages or Olympics,” he added, “I’m going to have to play much better than I did today and feel much better than I did today.”
Still, like most people, Alcaraz was impressed that Djokovic managed to make it all the way to the final at Wimbledon.
“What he has done this tournament — with a surgery just before a few weeks before the tournament — (began) is amazing. It is unbelievable.”
Earlier, Kate — wearing a purple dress, one of Wimbledon’s official colors — went from the stands down to the playing surface to present the trophies, part of her duties as patron of the All England Club, which hosts the annual tournament.
She shook hands with some of the ball kids who worked at the tournament, then exchanged words with both players and applauded for Alcaraz after giving him the winner’s trophy for the second year in a row.
“It was, of course, a privilege to be in her presence again. I’ve said to her that it is very nice to see her in good health; she seems to be in good health,” Djokovic said at his postmatch news conference. “That’s obviously very positive news for everyone in this country, but also for Wimbledon.”
Kate and her 9-year-old daughter, Princess Charlotte, got to the site of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament in southwest London in a motorcade about a half-hour before the final was scheduled to begin. They went to a terrace at the club that is connected to the main stadium by a pedestrian walkway and greeted several people, including 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu and other young British tennis players.
Also in the Royal Box for the final were Kate’s sister, Pippa Matthews, actors Tom Cruise and Benedict Cumberbatch and several past Wimbledon champions, including Rod Laver, Andre Agassi and Stefan Edberg.
Since 2016, Kate has been the patron of the All England Club. She did not attend Saturday when Barbora Krejcikova defeated Jasmine Paolini for the women’s title.
Kate revealed in March that she has an unspecified form of cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. Her lone public appearance since then had been attending last month’s birthday parade for King Charles III. Before that event, she released a statement saying she was “making good progress” but still had “good days and bad days.”
Prince William has been a regular at Wimbledon finals but was not there Sunday. Instead, he planned to be in Germany to watch England face Spain in the final of the men’s soccer European Championship. He is the president of the English Football Association.
