The Olympic tennis tournament in Paris ended with the victory of Novak Djokovic. The Serbian champion also achieved his last great dream of his legendary career by beating Carlos Alcaraz in the final and winning the gold medal.
Carlos Alcaraz & Novak Djokovic, 2024 Paris Olympics
Carlos Alcaraz & Novak Djokovic, 2024 Paris Olympics© Clive Brunskill / Staff – Getty Images Sport
An extraordinary result for Nole at the last Olympics of his career, useful to certify his status as the best tennis player ever. The former world number 1 had undergone knee surgery a short time ago and still hadn’t won a title in 2024, but he played a perfect tournament without losing even a set during the weeks.
The level against Alcaraz in the final surprised everyone, especially the young Spaniard who expected to win after dominating the Serbian in the final of the Wimbledon Championships. Carlitos was less good than Novak at managing nerves and emotions, paying duty in the two tiebreaks.
Both of them chose to skip the Montreal Masters 1000 to get their energy back for the US Open, which will take place in New York at the end of August. Their only tournament of preparation for the last Slam of the season should be the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, where they played a memorable final last year (won by Djokovic at the decisive tiebreak).
Alcaraz, Djokovic and Sinner will be the big favorites at Flushing Meadows, in a tournament that has often given surprises over the last 10-15 years. Novak Djokovic’s feat at the Paris Olympics has had a remarkable resonance around the world. The 37-year-old from Belgrade has once again shown that he has something more than all other players.
Flavio Cobolli pays tribute to Djokovic
During a recent interview in Montreal, young Italian ace Flavio Cobolli paid tribute to Nole: “It’s something I often say to myself. I always had Nole as my reference player, and I try to emulate him there too. It’s not only his technique that I like, I love his mentality. I also try to take a cue from these little things, from what he says at the conference. Since he explained how he positively transformed the audience’s support for his opponent, I applied this method, repeated it several times and I have to say that it works.”
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic © Getty Images Sport – Clive Brunskill
The 24-time Grand Slam champion was going through one of the worst moments of his career before the Paris Olympics, having not won a single title this year and being dominated in the Wimbledon final.
In the latest edition of his podcast, former American star Andy Roddick reflected on the importance of a gold medal at the Olympics: “It’s not even worth a conversation. I think it’s each individual (choice). I think if you ask people, is this (as) important as a Slam, and I certainly felt this pressure in 2004, do you value this? Years later, I’m like no. It’s not even worth a conversation. I would have definitely taken a Wimbledon title instead of that, 100%. No chance (that the Olympics is on a par with a Grand Slam), like it’s not even worth a conversation. If you put me in this seat right now and you give me, ‘Hey, you could have an Olympic gold medal or you could have a Wimbledon title?’ It’s not even up for discussion to me. The point is it’s different for everyone.”
Nole is unstoppable
The former world number 1 has said several times that winning the gold medal at the Olympics was almost an obsession for him. Novak wanted to make his country proud, which will dedicate a museum to him. After the atrocious disappointments at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, it seemed unlikely that Djokovic would achieve his dream. The Serbian has shocked everyone once again, winning on its less congenial surface.
Novak Djokovic, 2019 Shanghai Masters
Novak Djokovic, 2019 Shanghai Masters© Lintao Zhang / Staff – Getty Images Sport
Speaking with Tennis Majors, Goran Ivanisevic commented on Djokovic’s triumph: “Alcaraz knew that he would be punished for a shorter ball, and he made some errors. It’s not easy to pull off what Novak did, but again, he wanted it so much. Novak didn’t show up in the Wimbledon final, but here you could tell, if they stayed for five more hours on that court, the outcome would have been the same.
Novak was flying, Novak was dancing. People forgot that this was his first Olympics final, he felt that this is it, that he has to seize this opportunity. Although, considering how crazy he is, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him in Los Angeles in 2028 as well. We’ll watch him for a long time, they can’t get rid of him! In my opinion, he is one of the greatest athletes of all time. Whether he is top five, top three or top two, that’s the matter of opinion, but he is up there.”