Novak Djokovic added another significant achievement to his esteemed career on Sunday in Paris.
By defeating Carlos Alcaraz in two exciting tie-break sets at the Paris Olympic Games, the Serbian secured the one major title in tennis—the Olympic gold medal—that had previously eluded him.
“I don’t know what to say. I’m still in shock, honestly,” said Djokovic after his 7-6(3), 7-6(2) triumph on Court Philippe-Chatrier. “I put my heart, my soul, my body, my family, my everything on the line to win Olympic gold at age 37. I finally did it.”
Nikola Djokovic, competing in his first Olympic gold-medal match just eight and a half weeks following surgery on his right knee, has become only the fifth player in history to achieve the career ‘Golden Slam’ by winning all four Grand Slam tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. The record 24-time major men’s singles champion now joins esteemed athletes Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, and Serena Williams in this distinguished group.
“Yes, [my] puzzle, it is [complete],” said Djokovic in post-match comments to NBC. “I’m telling myself always that I am enough, because I can be very self-critical. It’s probably one of the biggest internal battles that I keep on fighting with myself, that I don’t feel like I’ve done enough… I’m super grateful for the blessing to win a historic gold medal for my country, to complete the Golden Slam, to complete all the records.”
Djokovic and Alcaraz were joined on the podium in Paris by Lorenzo Musetti, who achieved a significant milestone by defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime in the bronze-medal match, securing Italy’s first Olympic tennis medal in a century. Meanwhile, the men’s doubles title was won by Matthew Ebden and John Peers, who narrowly defeated the American duo of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram to claim gold. This victory marks only the second medal for Australia in the history of the Olympic Tennis Event, following the success of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde in Atlanta 1996.
Photo/NovakDjokovic/X
ATP contributed to this coverage
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