The Serbian roared to the crowd at big moments late in the fourth, but said the close loss just “wasn’t meant to be,” before heaping further praise on the Spanish champion.
“The results are a testament to his already stellar career. I can’t think of any other superlatives about him,” Djokovic said.
“He deserves every bit of the praise that he gets from his peers, but also the whole tennis community.
“He’s a very nice young man. Good values, nice family. Of course, already a legendary tennis player that already made a huge mark in the history books of tennis, I mean, with only 22 years of age.”
In a record 38th Grand Slam final, and with Margaret Court sitting on 24 major singles titles, Djokovic was looking to become the player with the most singles Grand Slam titles in history.
His five-set semifinal victory over defending champion Jannik Sinner also put him on the precipice of becoming the first player to defeat the world No.1 and No.2 at the same major.
The stakes were enormous and the stage matched the moment, as 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal watched on beside another AO champion, Ken Rosewall.
At one point, as Alcaraz relentlessly defied logic, Djokovic shrugged towards Nadal – who he famously defeated in the longest major final of all time at Rod Laver Arena in 2012 – and yelled out, “Want to play?” Nadal smiled and laughed.