Novak Djokovic earned a place in the final of the tennis of Paris 2024 This Friday, he beat the Italian Lorenzo Musetti and will face the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz for his first gold in Olympic Games.
On the brick dust of Roland GarrosThe Serbian defeated Musetti with scores of 6-4 and 6-2 in less than two hours and took the penultimate step towards winning the only title that is missing from his superb list of achievements.
Intense from the start, the match on the central court at Roland Garros had chances and breaks from both sides. Djoko chatted with his corner, and Musetti (No. 16 in the ATP) also had some good tennis. But in the heat of the match, the 24-time Grand Slam winner’s experience once again won out to take the first set 6-4.
Despite some turbulence, Djokovic got through the match without losing the thread of it, protesting to the referee, which earned him a ‘warning’, making unscripted errors with his serve, and heading off without any resistance from the Italian to celebrate lying on the clay of Roland Garros his longed-for passage to the final.
Bronze medallist in singles at Beijing 2008, Djokovic wants to add the brilliance of an Olympic gold to his impressive list of achievements. Spaniard Alcaraz will try to stop him.
“It will be the biggest challenge”face Alcaraz at Roland Garros, the same court that crowned the Spaniard in June.
“He beat me at Wimbledon. But the circumstances are different and I think I’m a better player than I was at Wimbledon.”warned Djokovic, who underwent surgery on his right knee in June.
The Serbian made an astonishing recovery, played in the cathedral of tennis and was only beaten in the final by Alcaraz.
In the quarter-final match of Paris 2024 against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, he showed discomfort in his leg and even raised concerns about his physical condition for the semi-final. But this Friday, as so many times in his career after suffering discomfort, he once again showed himself invincible.
“I’m going out to play my best tennis. I have nothing to lose, so I’m going to go all out,” the Serbian player summed up in the final against Alcaraz, putting the weight of favoritism on the Spaniard who at 21 years old continues to break barriers.
In addition to having the pleasure of playing in the final, in Paris 2024 Djokovic had the pleasure of beating his great rival, the Spaniard Rafael Nadal, in the second round.
Earlier, and with a flawless performance against the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alcaraz qualified for the final of the Olympic Games, which gave the bronze to the Polish Iga Swiatek.
The Spaniard crushed the number 19 player in the ATP rankings by 6-1 and 6-1 in one hour and fifteen minutes of duel. “There is one game left, it is a big mountain”Alcaraz warned, after ensuring that he will leave Paris 2024 with one of the first two places on the podium.
If she does, she will join Rafael Nadal (2008) and Steffi Graf (1988) in winning the gold medal after winning at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. The German went one step further and took home the ‘Golden Grand Slam’ in 1988, winning the four ‘major’ tournaments that year and the Games.
At 21, Alcaraz has won four Grand Slam tournaments and a gold medal would further consolidate the predictions that see him as a worthy successor to the ‘Big 3’, made up of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer, who has already retired.
Swiatek and a consolation prize: she took bronze
Recovering from her major semi-final setback against China’s Zheng, Swiatek returned to action on Friday in the second half of the Philippe Chatrier, following Alcaraz’s victory, and without breaking a sweat she beat Slovakia’s Anna Schmiedlova 6-2, 6-1 in the bronze medal match.
The victory did not entirely erase the disappointment of the world number one at losing to Zheng, ending a winning streak that began when she won the first of her three consecutive Roland Garros.
Three-time champion of the French Grand Slam, with four titles under her belt, Swiatek leaves Paris with a medal, but without the gold that her good form and her history on clay demanded of her.
With Swiatek out of the running, Zheng will take on Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the women’s Olympic singles final.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
