“Novak Djokovic willed himself to this win, he was like an animal”: Andy Roddick on Serb's 'masterful performance' to win gold medal at Paris Olympics
Andy Roddick recently talked about Novak Djokovic's 'masterful performance' to win the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. This was the Serb's second Olympic medal, with his first being a bronze which he won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
This year, Djokovic was the top seed at the Games and defeated Matthew Ebden in the first round, followed by Rafael Nadal in the second. He then triumphed over Dominik Koepfer and Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round and quarterfinals, respectively. The former World No.1 defeated Lorenzo Musetti in the semifinals and ultimately secured the gold medal by defeating Carlos Alcaraz in the final.
During a recent episode of the "Served with Andy Roddick" podcast, Roddick was all praise for Novak Djokovic and his performance at the Paris Olympics final. He stated that words would fail him in expressing how much respect he has for the Serb after seeing him take the gold home.
Roddick mentioned that the Olympic gold medal was the only accolade missing from the 24-time Grand Slam champion's impressive career, which made the win meaningful.
“This f**king match with Novak and Alcaraz, dude I have goosebumps. Words will fail me when trying to express the respect that I have for Novak. [He's] been physically compromised all year, he said during the off-season last year with John Wertheim he would take a gold medal over any tournament in 2024 and I believe him,” Roddick said (17:04).
“I think a lot of people say that because they feel like they should, Novak means it ‘cause that’s the only hole in his resume, that’s the only thing you can argue for someone else over Novak is an Olympic gold medal. He knows that,” he continued.
Andy Roddick expressed that the final match meant a lot to Novak Djokovic as he, who is known to engage with the crowd during his match, restrained himself from doing so and had his focus solely on the game.
“But this match, how much it meant to him you could see it, you could feel it with the way he was grunting, crowd yelling between 1st and 2nd serves. Didn't get into it with them, you could feel like there was a weight around this,” Andy Roddick said (18:38).
The former US Open champion also stated that Djokovic looked like a "man on a mission" while playing the gold medal match. He said that the former World No.1 had "willed" himself to win the match, served phenomenally, and 'masterfully' overpowered Carlos Alcaraz on the surface where the Spaniard, this year had won the French Open to take the gold.
“He willed himself to this win. Served phenomenal. Carlos not getting consistent looks at your serve on a clay court when it's warm out, masterful! This was as masterful a performance as I’ve seen from him. It just felt like Novak was a man on a mission. He willed himself to this win and yeah, he was like an animal,” he added (19:48).
“Novak Djokovic had knee surgery on June 6th and won Olympic gold against the current best player on earth August 4th” - Andy Roddick
In the aforementioned podcast, Andy Roddick expressed that he was in awe of Novak Djokovic winning the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics as this season has not been favorable to the Serb.
“Going out, you’ve been physically compromised all year, haven’t won a tournament, you haven’t beaten a top 10 player all year, you had knee surgery on June 6th and you won Olympic gold singles against the current best player on earth August 4th,” Roddick said (18:01).
Roddick pointed out Djokovic's perseverance, stating that he had been battling injuries, underwent knee surgery, and leading up to the Olympics, had not won any titles or defeated a top 10 player, which made his gold medal victory even more impressive.
“Knowing that he said afterward and it blew my mind, this is the most Novak thing to say ever just to tell us all to shut up so, ‘I’d like to play in LA in 2028. Sure, I'll be 41.’ I’m not going to say you can’t ‘cause I’ve learned my lesson,” he added.
Novak Djokovic, who was scheduled to compete at the 2024 Canadian Open, a tournament he has won four times, has withdrawn from the ATP Masters 1000 tournament.