The gold medal match in the men’s singles portion of the 2024 Paris Olympics tennis tournament did not disappoint. Novak Djokovic made history by winning the Gold Medal for Serbia, completing the career “Golden Slam,” defeating Carlos Alcaraz of Spain 7-6(3) 7-6(2)
This was one of the best tennis matches of the season. The crowd inside Court Philippe-Chatrier was given a show not to be forgotten. Djokovic and Alcaraz brought their A-games to the final, but as he had done for so many years, Djokovic raised his game when he needed it the most. There is a reason Novak Djokovic is the best tiebreak player in men’s tennis. He does not make mistakes. How will this achievement rank on Djokovic’s all-time list?
History Made by Novak Djokovic
Carlos Alcaraz denied Novak Djokovic the chance to make history for the last few years, but not today. With the gold medal for Serbia on the line, Djokovic raised his level. He played his best match of the season, claiming his first title—none more significant than the Olympic Gold Medal.
Djokovic was already going to go down as the greatest men’s tennis player of all time, but he cemented that legacy by adding a gold medal to his collection. This was Djokovic’s fifth Olympics, and they had been denied the gold medal in the previous four Olympics. With 24 major titles and completing the career Grand Slam twice, he is now the fifth person in the Open Era since 1988 to have completed the Golden Slam, all four majors (Australian, French, Wimbledon, and US Open), plus win the Gold Medal.
Steffi Graff, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, and Serena Williams have won the “Golden Slam.” Add Novak Djokovic’s name to that list. Again, Graff is the only player to win the “Calendar Golden Slam.” However, that does not matter because Djokovic has accomplished something he has wanted since 2008: a gold medal for Serbia. He is very proud of his home country, and now the 2024 Olympic Gold Medalist could retire if he wanted to. But he won’t, as the chase for more history is on at the 2024 US Open.
How the Match Played Out
Many people expected a better final between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz. Alcaraz had won the Wimbledon Final in straight sets just a few weeks ago, but Novak Djokovic did not look like himself. In the gold medal match, Djokovic was the player of old. What a difference a few weeks can make.
While this was a straight-sets victory in tiebreaks, this was not an easy match. The last three sets Alcaraz and Djokovic have played have been tiebreaks dating back to the third set of Wimbledon. Djokovic had to work for every point. He saved eight break points in the first set, which lasted an hour and a half. He saved 12 break points in total as the match lasted two hours and 50 minutes.
Djokovic Guts Out First Set Win
Things got interesting in the seventh game of the first set. At 3-3, when Djokovic was serving, he had to save three consecutive break point chances. Djokovic came up with some monster serves, keeping the man from Spain guessing where the first serve was going. With his back against the wall, Djokovic went to his favorite serve down the T. Alcaraz was always looking for the serve out wide and gearing up for his forehand. Instead, Djokovic was able to hold to go up 4-3.
Djokovic had a chance to break Alcaraz’s serve at 6-5, but Alcaraz saved his fifth break point of the set to force the tiebreak. Both men saved 13 break-point chances combined in the first set. The first set tiebreak came down to one mistake at 3-3; Alcaraz was a little too aggressive to give Djokovic the edge he needed to get away with the first set. Again, Djokovic wants his opponents to beat themselves. Alcaraz did that in the first set.
Second Set
The second set was more of the same. Alcaraz and Djokovic continued their brilliant shot-making, and the young Spaniard tried to get the crowd involved more. His ability to move and get to balls forced Novak Djokovic to hit one or two extra shots. These two men continued to produce winners as the match went on. Each man marveled at the other’s brilliant shot-making. However, Alcaraz could not get the break of serve to get the match level.
After saving eight break points in the first set, Djokovic saved a few more in the second set. Officially, Novak Djokovic saved eight break points. However, Alcaraz did have break chances in the second set. Alcaraz had one of those Roger Federer days trying to break serve. Just one conversion and the match plays out differently. In the second set tiebreak, at 2-2, Djokovic ripped a forehand winner crosscourt, which allowed him to win the next four points and capture the gold medal for Serbia.
Emotional Victory
Once the match was over, you could see the emotion on Novak Djokovic’s face as he completed a lifelong dream of winning a gold medal at the Olympics. The tears poured down as he covered his face in the chair before receiving the Serbian flag from the ball kid. After celebrating on the court, Djokovic went to his box to meet his family. Alcaraz, who shed tears of disappointment, felt the thrill of victory on one end and the agony of defeat on the other end.
Novak Djokovic worked so hard to get to this point. You could understand the emotions that were pouring out of him. At one point, he was visibly shaking. That is how much this gold medal meant to him. It was the performance of a lifetime for Novak Djokovic, completing history on the final day of the tennis tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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