Novak Djokovic conquers last remaining frontier in tennis, defeats Carlos Alcaraz to win maiden Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024
Novak Djokovic won his maiden Olympic gold medal on Sunday, defeating Carlos Alcaraz in the final in Paris, to clinch what is possibly the biggest title of his career so far. The five-time Grand Slam champion was making his Olympic debut, while Djokovic was playing in his fifth Games.
The duo started their opening set very evenly matched, with each player trying to find a weakness in the other as nerves ran high on Court Philippe-Chartrier. The score reached 4-4 without any breaks of serve, even as both Djokovic and Alcaraz had to save multiple break points on their service games along the way.
In his next service game, the Serb saved five break points to go 5-4* up and put the pressure on Alcaraz. However, the Spaniard held his cool to level things. At 6-5*, Alcaraz had to do it all over again, but did enough (after saving one set point) to take things to a tiebreaker.
In the tiebreaker, the World No. 2 earned the first minibreak, going 4*-3 up. From there, he won the next three points and quickly wrapped up the set 7-6(3) to go within one set of winning the elusive gold medal after more than an hour and a half.
In the second set, Carlos Alcaraz displayed more nerves, giving away points that he would have otherwise won without breaking a sweat. Regardless, Djokovic could not break the Spaniard, as the two stayed level until 4-4. In the next service game, the Spaniard was in the driver's seat at 40*-0, but ended up taking the game to deuce before holding serve.
Serving to stay in the set, the No. 1 seed delivered, taking it to 5-5 first and then repeating the same to go 6-6 and force a second tiebreaker. This time, the first minibreak went Djokovic's way at 1-0. Although Alcaraz leveled for 2-2, the Serb earned it again to go 3-2 up. From there, he held on to take the glory, winning the set 7-6(2), and with it the match after nearly three hours of toiling under the sun in Paris.
With his win, Novak Djokovic can proudly say now that there is not a single title he hasn't won in his career. The World No. 2 has won 24 Grand Slam titles, at least thrice at each Slam, 40 Masters 1000 titles, at least twice at every ATP 1000 event, and now the Olympic gold in his fifth attempt.
The 37-year-old has also completed the Career Golden Slam -- winning all four Majors plus the Olympic gold. Only two other men have achieved the feat before in the Open Era: Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal. In history, two more women have completed it: Steffi Graf and Serena Williams.
"The biggest challenge right now" - Novak Djokovic on playing Carlos Alcaraz in Paris Olympics final
Speaking to the press after his semifinal win over Lorenzo Musetti, Novak Djokovic commented on his final against Carlos Alcaraz at the Paris Olympics, admitting that it was the 'biggest challenge' for him at the moment.
Regardless, the 24-time Grand Slam champ was confident about his chances and was planning to make amends for all the four Olympic Games he previously finished without winning the gold medal.
"Playing Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday in the final is the biggest challenge I can have right now. I feel better than I did at Wimbledon, and am moving better."
"I have been waiting for this for almost 20 years. I’ve played four Olympic games, this is my fifth and I’ve never passed semi-finals. I lost three semi-finals in my first four Olympic games. I managed to overcome this big hurdle. I must be honest and say that I was thinking about all the semi-finals that I lost," Novak Djokovic had said.
The head-to-head between the duo is now 4-3 in favor of the Serb, who had their previous encounter in the final of Wimbledon last month before the Paris Olympics.