Paris – Under a sun-soaked court Phillipe-Chatrier, a familiar pairing stepped out in front of a sell-out Paris crowd. In a repeat of the recent Wimbledon final, the youngest man to make an Olympic final faced the oldest to ever do so, with 21-year-old Carlos Alcaraz coming up against 37-year-old Novak Djokovic for the gold medal.
Alcaraz had blown Djokovic away just 3 weeks prior on the grass courts of London and also came into the gold medal match in Paris as the reigning French Open Champion, having beaten Alexander Zverev in a 5-set battle on court Phillipe-Chatrier at the start of June.
In what already felt like a tournament of farewells, with Andy Murray playing his final professional match and tears shed for Rafael Nadal, who many believe may have played his last match on the court he has reigned on for so much of his career, many viewed the Paris Olympics as Djokovic’s last chance to get his hands on the coveted gold medal.
It was the only major honor that has proved elusive to him throughout a glittering and record-breaking career and he will be 41 by the time the LA Olympics start in 2028. Despite surpassing his great rival Nadal in Grand Slam titles, Djokovic was yet to achieve the so-called career Golden Slam in singles – all four Grand Slams and an Olympic Gold medal – something that the Spaniard held following an Olympic gold in Beijing in 2008 and an Australian Open title in 2009 to complete the set
In an enthralling men’s tennis singles final, Djokovic beat Alcaraz 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2).
Louise Delmotte / AP
Djokovic came into the final with slight injury concerns, he claimed a knee injury that he had surgery on in June had caused him issues throughout the Olympic tournament, but even not at 100% fitness, the Serb made it to the gold medal match without dropping a set – as did Alcaraz.
The Spaniard however, had spent much more time on the court, venturing to the quarter-final of the men’s doubles in a box-office pairing alongside Nadal while Djokovic chose to compete only in the singles tournament this time round.
Despite being the reigning grand slam champion on this court, Alcaraz started tentatively, fending off a break point in his first service game and rallying from 0-40 down in his second, to impressively level the first set at 2-2. Little could then separate the two men as they continued to hold serve, but it was Alcaraz who had the major chances, with 8 break point opportunities coming and passing him by before Djokovic showed his champion quality and pulled away in the first set tiebreak to take the set.
The atmosphere inside Phillipe-Chatrier was as electric as the level of tennis and as the Serbian roared as he made his way back to his bench the brass band playing inside the court sprung to life and raised the crowd’s excitement level even further.
Andy Wong / AP
The second set followed a similar pattern, with both men holding serve, but it was Djokovic who looked the man in control. Alcaraz had begun to make uncharacteristic unforced errors and with every Djokovic winner that the crowd celebrated, the Serbian’s level seemed to rise and he looked like the man with the momentum as they entered a second set tiebreak.
Djokovic took a mini break early in the tiebreak with an incredible forehand cross-court winner that had the crowd on their feet and they barely sat down after that. The Serbian steamrolled his way through the tiebreak to the gold medal and completed the career gold slam that had evaded him for so long.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion is now an Olympic Champion at his fifth attempt. He joins an exclusive group of Nadal, Andre Agassi, Steffi Graff and Serena Williams as winners of the Golden Slam and as he sobbed while holding a Serbian flag aloft in the center of the court, some would argue this gold medal earns him the undisputed title of the greatest player of all time.
