In the end, he just couldn’t do it.

So many factors stoked the flames of Novak Djokovic’s desire coming into this final – to win an historic 25th Grand Slam, to capture an eighth Wimbledon crown, to equal Roger Federer’s record in SW19, to become the oldest man at 37 to raise the golden Challenge Cup aloft, to avenge last year’s agonising defeat in this final by Carlos Alcaraz, to trash the pronouncements of the changing of the guard, to restore his aura of invincibility lost this year… all that, achieved just 39 days after surgery on his right knee.

He couldn’t do it.

For all the elements fuelling Djokovic this Fortnight, none was equal to the dazzling opposing factor… Alcaraz. The Spaniard wore his own mission lightly, successfully defending a Grand Slam title for the first time. Among current players, only Rafael Nadal and Djokovic himself have achieved the same.

Despite all the fascination surrounding this showdown, one statistic above all others illustrates the troubled path Djokovic has trodden in 2024. In this final, he was attempting to defeat a top 10 player for the first time in eight months.

He couldn’t do it.

Last year he was denied a two-sets-to-love lead only by the edgiest of tie-breaks. And what of that game in the third set – 26 minutes, 13 deuces, seven break points… Alcaraz seized it for a double break. If Djokovic had snatched it, might the course of the match have been altered? Might the Grand Slam have become his when he won the US Open?

He couldn’t do it.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda. So many astonishing sporting achievements hinge on tiny margins. How long ago last year’s contest felt in this 2024 Wimbledon final.

You wouldn’t have known that Djokovic’s serve had been the stronger of the two over the Fortnight, or that Alcaraz had been the more vulnerable to error. This time, the gap between these opponents was apparent from the opening game.

Those who asked whether Djokovic’s knee would bear up to a five-set test found themselves wondering whether it could withstand the opening game – 14 minutes, seven deuces, five break points… a mere snack by comparison with that game from last year’s third set, but a gut punch all the same.

Next game Alcaraz delivered his fastest serve of the Fortnight, a 136mph zinger, and Djokovic looked… not tired, exactly, but rather as if he knew the game was up. The helpful draw in tandem with his own still-formidable powers had taken him all the way to the 10th Wimbledon final of his career – a one-match shootout, where everything was possible.

He couldn’t do it.

Alcaraz produced his best grass court match of 2024 at exactly the wrong time for Djokovic. Only when he held a hatful of Championship points did the Spaniard stumble, falling over his own errors.

It was merely the postponement of the inevitable. For the first time since his defeat by Andy Murray in this final 11 years ago, Djokovic lost at Wimbledon in straight sets

Up in the players’ box, six-year-old Tara Djokovic once again brought her favourite storybook with her, as she had to all her father’s matches – a volume of fairytales, with a unicorn on the cover. Had her papa been able to find a path to victory in this final, his status would have been elevated from the gigantic to the near-mythical – a tennis unicorn, if you will.

He couldn’t do it.

Perhaps Djokovic can yet defend his US Open title successfully to clinch that 25th Grand Slam, and maybe even the Olympic gold medal which he declared a few months ago to be his primary aim for this season. But how his chances in either can have been improved by playing through his post-surgical recovery remains an enigma.

Everything he was before this match, Djokovic is still. He has done so much, achieved so much. But on this day, in this place, against this opponent, in the end… he just couldn’t do it.