For Novak Djokovic, a dream comes true at the Olympics. The record Grand Slam tournament winner celebrates the one triumph he was missing. It is a completely different final to Wimbledon.
Superstar Novak Djokovic cried uncontrollably as he sank to his knees on the red clay and then fell into the arms of his daughter Tara in the stands. With immense determination, the 37-year-old secured his first Olympic gold medal in a tennis career full of records. Djokovic narrowly won the thrilling and high-class final at the Summer Games in France against French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz 7:6 (7:3), 7:6 (7:2) and was then overwhelmed by his emotions.
“I am super grateful for the blessing of having won this historic gold for my country and completing the Golden Slam,” said the Serb and cheered: “My career puzzle is now complete.”
Djokovic crowned himself the successor to Tokyo Olympic champion Alexander Zverev and took revenge for the Wimbledon final he lost against the 21-year-old Spaniard. After 2 hours and 50 minutes, Djokovic converted his first match point. In the audience, his daughter Tara wore a gold medal, and her son Stefan waved Serbian flags.
A little later, Djokovic was moved and patted his heart at the awards ceremony before receiving the gold medal from IOC President Thomas Bach. Beaming and proud, he sang along to the Serbian national anthem.
Perhaps the last chance for Djokovic
Djokovic was determined to overcome the stigma of not winning an Olympic gold medal. His fifth Summer Games might be his last chance, as he would be 41 years old in Los Angeles in 2028. In front of around 15,000 spectators, the Serbian record Grand Slam winner won the duel with Alcaraz on the red clay in Paris because he reached his top level and slid and sprinted across the court as if the knee injury from early June had never happened. It is his second Olympic medal after bronze in 2008 in Beijing.
Like Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams, Djokovic has now achieved the Golden Slam in his career, consisting of triumphs at four Grand Slam tournaments and the Olympic victory. “Darling, well done,” wrote Boris Becker to his former protégé Djokovic on X.
Djokovic thus stopped the winning streak of silver medalist Alcaraz, who had recently triumphed at the French Open and Wimbledon. Bronze went to the Italian Zverev conqueror Lorenzo Musetti.
The first set lasts longer than Zverev’s Olympic final
Three weeks after the Wimbledon final, the atmosphere on Court Philippe-Chatrier was great from the start. The two protagonists fought doggedly for every game in the first set. The tension of the first set culminated in the tiebreak, which Djokovic won with four points in a row. The first set alone lasted 93 minutes, which was longer than the entire final three years ago in Japan, when Zverev gave the Russian Karen Khachanov hardly any chance in just 79 minutes.
The thrilling rallies and tension continued in the second set. Again, the two finalists held all their service games and again it went to a tiebreak. Once again, Djokovic was the better player in this decisive moment.
Source: Stern
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