The two best players on the planet playing for the most famous tennis trophy on the planet. The Championships could not have come up with a better final if they had planned it.

The All England Club is steeped in history – tradition is part of its DNA – but this particular Sunday afternoon could be a moment that will be indelibly marked in the annals of the game.

Novak Djokovic, already the greatest player the men’s game has ever seen by dint of his 23 Grand Slam titles, taking on the man who could challenge his records in years to come.

Djokovic sets milestones almost every time he steps on court and the numbers that fill his CV are eyewatering.

Here he is attempting to match Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon titles. He has already matched the Swiss’s benchmark of 46 Grand Slam semi-finals contested. He is on a 34-match unbeaten run at SW19 and, as has been quoted day and daily this Fortnight, he has not lost on Centre Court in a decade.

History is what motivates the Serb and his place there is assured. He has now reached 35 Grand Slam finals, an extraordinary number in itself.

But put in the context of the men’s game as a whole, it means that he has been a part of seven per cent of the Grand Slam men's finals ever contested. That is ever. Since tennis began.

No matter how much he wins, he always wants more.

“Ambition is always the highest for me: always to win the title,” he said. “It's not changing, regardless of the place in history books. Maybe some people think that it would be a huge relief for me winning Roland-Garros, being the only men's tennis player with 23 slams. It's not.

“The pressure is there. It's still very high. I still feel goose bumps and butterflies and nerves coming into every single match. So I'm going to be coming into Sunday's final like it's my first, to be honest.” 

With the Australian Open and Roland-Garros trophies already in his possession this year, he is half way towards a calendar Grand Slam, one of the very few achievements that have so far escaped him.

He almost did it two years ago but fell at the final hurdle – Daniil Medvedev beat him in the US Open final. The pressure that he speaks of, then, is even greater this time. At the age of 36, even he realises that his chance of winning all four major titles in one season are getting slimmer with every passing year.

Now, most Wimbledon final debutants would have a sinking feeling knowing what they are up against on Sunday afternoon.

Carlos Alcaraz is not like most debutants, though. He is the world No.1; he is the US Open champion and he has the unbridled enthusiasm of youth. At just 20, he cannot wait to pit his strengths against the history man.

“I will believe in myself, believe that I can beat him here,” he announced cheerfully after beating Medvedev on Friday. “It is no time to be afraid, no time to be tired. I’m going to go for it.”

Alcaraz knows, too, that he has the game and the experience to back up his bullish words.

They have played twice before, with one win apiece (Alcaraz won in the Madrid semi-finals last year and Djokovic won in the Roland-Garros semi-finals just a few weeks ago).

Yet even in that defeat in Paris, the Spaniard knew that he was getting the better of his illustrious foe – he had just won a stunning second set – until cramp set in. He put the cramp down to nerves and he is determined to learn from the experience.

“I try to get into the court with not as much nerves as I probably had in French Open, in the semi-final,” Alcaraz said. “I try to pull out all nerves, try to enjoy that moment because probably in the semi-final at the French Open I didn't enjoy at all in the first set.

“I'll do something different from that match. I prepare the match a little bit different from French Open. It's going to be different for me. I hope not to get cramp during the final. I think I'll be better on Sunday.”

And if he can play freely, Alcaraz knows he can win. With more talent at his disposal than most men could dream of – power, touch, defence, attack, speed, volleys, drop shots… the list goes on and on – he knows he can win on any surface.

He knows that he can follow Djokovic into the history books. And this final might be the start of that journey.

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