Novak Djokovic claims he has ‘nothing to lose’ against Carlos Alcaraz after reaching Olympic final
Novak Djokovic has reached his first Olympic final, setting up a rematch of the recent Wimbledon final with Carlos Alcaraz.
Djokovic beat in-form Italian Lorenzo Musetti, 6-4 6-2, to settle any concerns about the return of a knee injury that he recently had surgery on.
The Serbian had lost his three previous Olympic semi-finals and Djokovic revealed that he was stressed coming into the match when speaking to Eurosport, “It was such a tense match, a lot of emotions. So much expectation and stress coming into today’s match, particularly [trying] to secure a medal for my country.”
He continued, “A first final of the Olympics for me [so] I’m thrilled. Obviously I want to win the gold, in a few days’ time. I’m going to do my best to do that, but already this is a huge result for me under these circumstances and I was very nervous today, and before the match I lost three out of four semi-finals of the Olympic Games that I’ve played in my career, so I really wanted to get through this hurdle.”
Djokovic will play Carlos Alcaraz in the final on Sunday, who beat Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime for the loss of only two games in his semi-final.
It will be a rematch of the recent Wimbledon final, where Alcaraz beat Djokovic in straight sets to defend his title.
And Djokovic has suggested that the Spaniard at Roland Garros as ‘the biggest challenge’ in tennis, “We both are going to be very happy with a day off with no match tomorrow. He played a lot of matches with doubles and singles. Me, at this age, I’m really grateful to have a day off and recover my body and get ready for Sunday.
“That’s going to be the biggest challenge that I can have at the moment, playing him on this court. He won Roland-Garros a month ago on this court. Although we played once [here], I beat him in the semis, I lost to him in the final of Wimbledon quite comfortably.”
The 24-time major winner added, “Different surface… I feel like I’m playing and moving better than I did at Wimbledon, so hopefully I’ll come out and play my best tennis and in a way, I have nothing to lose as I’ve already secured a medal, so I’m going to go for it.”
This dream is long lived and fought for. I wanted to compete in the finals of Olympic games for such a long time. Representing my country at a global event is a huge privilege and honor that I cherish. Serbia will have a medal on Sunday!!! Ideeeemooooo 🥳🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸 pic.twitter.com/GLywjKPNNd
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) August 2, 2024
Regardless of the outcome of the match on Sunday, Djokovic has secured his best medal at the Olympics with at least a silver.
Inside the baseline…
Novak Djokovic had caused a lot of concern for his fans after his comments made about a potential returning knee injury, but it appears that it was more of a scare than anything as he was moving well against Lorenzo Musetti. Everyone knows how much an Olympic gold would mean to Djokovic, as it is one of the only things that has eluded his career, but Carlos Alcaraz is looking fantastic in Paris. Hopefully the final will at least be more competitive than at Wimbledon, where Djokovic looked very off the pace.
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Novak Djokovic vs Carlos Alcaraz head-to-head
Although Alcaraz got a convincing win in their most recent meeting, there is actually nothing to split the head-to-head with Djokovic:
Djokovic vs Alcaraz: 3-3
Alcaraz beat Djokovic, 6(5)-7 7-5 7-6(5) (Madrid Semi-Final, 2022)
Djokovic beat Alcaraz, 6-3 5-7 6-1 6-1 (Roland Garros Semi-Final, 2023)
Alcaraz beat Djokovic, 1-6 7-6(6) 6-1 3-6 6-4 (Wimbledon Final, 2023)
Djokovic beat Alcaraz, 5-7 7-6(7) 7-6(4) (Cincinnati Final, 2023)
Djokovic beat Alcaraz, 6-3 6-2 (ATP Finals Semi-Final, 2023)
Alcaraz beat Djokovic, 6-2 6-2 7-6(4) (Wimbledon Final, 2024)