Goal-setting is difficult for somebody who’s conquered every part the attention can see, however in late 2023, Novak Djokovic did identify one factor that had eluded him. An Olympic gold medal was probably the most conspicuous hole in his résumé, and his friends had all gotten theirs: Rafael Nadal gained singles in 2008, Roger Federer gained doubles in 2008, Andy Murray bought the singles in 2012 and 2016.
Djokovic’s solely Olympic medal was a singles bronze from 2008. He needed to fill that void in Paris, and on the finish of final season, that appeared possible sufficient. At age 36 he’d simply gained three of the yr’s 4 majors, regardless of being over a decade older than his most severe threats. The confidence was warranted. But because the 2024 season unfolded, it grew to become a lot more durable to purchase into the imaginative and prescient of Djokovic with a gold medal. Rather than a gradual ascent in kind to an Olympian peak, his yr was a procession of oddities: a disoriented loss on probably the most profitable court docket of his profession, a tetchy defeat by an unproven teenager, the firing of a head coach who’d been on his group for six massively profitable years, huge tournaments skipped for private causes, an unintended water bottle assault to the pinnacle, a meniscus tear adopted by a fast rehab, and a listless no-show in a Wimbledon ultimate. The season has been dominated by a pair of his younger rivals, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. Djokovic admitted in July that he wasn’t on their degree. The final time he was this deep right into a season and not using a title was 2005.
For the 64-man attract Paris, Sinner was absent with sickness, and Alcaraz was the prohibitive favourite for the gold. Djokovic churned steadily via the draw, not dropping a set. He concluded his 18-year battle with Nadal; he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas and Lorenzo Musetti, a pair of one-handed backhand youths that he’d traumatized on these clay courts up to now. Those wins ensured him a medal that may improve on his earlier bronze, however its exact ingredient would rely on how he fared in Sunday’s ultimate towards Alcaraz, who had simply gained back-to-back majors, together with one on this explicit Roland-Garros clay. Out of nowhere, Djokovic produced the perfect two units of tennis he’s performed in roughly a yr, to beat his a lot youthful rival, 7-6(3), 7-6(2).
From the opening video games, it was apparent that the 37-year-old was working at a vastly superior bodily degree than his final assembly towards Alcaraz, when he limped out of the Wimbledon ultimate in straight units. As lately as his quarterfinal final Thursday, Djokovic was involved about his capability to play. It was the knee, once more. At the beginning of the second set towards Tsitsipas, he had ache in his proper knee that he later described as a “deja vu” of when he tore his meniscus in June. The ache lingered for 3 or 4 video games, he said, then subsided after a dose of anti-inflammatories. He then seemed untroubled in his easy semifinal win over Musetti, and by the point he lined up throughout Alcaraz, it was as if his meniscus had by no means been a difficulty. Alcaraz’s drop shot is an on the spot and relentless take a look at of the opponent’s motion skills, and Djokovic answered it.
Djokovic refused to let Alcaraz dictate the phrases of engagement. He was getting himself to internet and volleying magnificently upon arrival, no simple feat when the ball is coming off the Alcaraz forehand. Djokovic constructed factors with fastidious, subtly aggressive tennis that dared Alcaraz to disrupt the patterns, to interrupt via them along with his personal innovations. Most of the time, Alcaraz appears to relish that strategy of invention, but it surely all seemed reasonably joyless for the 21-year-old via most of this match, give or take the occasional finger pointed to the ear, or the smile via gritted enamel. It’s onerous to recall the final time he’s barked at himself or mimed throwing his racquet this many occasions within the span of simply two units. Even the calmative presence of his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, who was on trip this week however returned to regular him via the ultimate, wasn’t enough to settle him down. Alcaraz stated afterward that he felt a unique form of strain than what he felt within the 4 main finals he has already performed (and gained) in his younger profession. “You play four Grand Slams every year; the Olympics is only once every four years,” he stated. He talked all through the event about how badly he needed to convey Spain the gold, and kissed the flag on his shirt after every win.
The first set lasted a ridiculous 94 minutes, and if Alcaraz left it with any particular regrets, most could be rooted within the 4-5 sport, by which he had 5 probabilities to interrupt serve—even had some makeable winners on his strings—however in the end couldn’t discover a approach via. Both gamers remained unbroken and collided as a substitute in a first-set tiebreak; Djokovic discovered the tiniest cushion with a single audacious return of serve. Tiebreaks are an train in managing danger. Djokovic’s general technique tends to be considerably conservative, counting on the muse of his supreme motion expertise and high-margin offense. He doesn’t take an excessive amount of danger with any given shot, as a substitute regularly incomes benefits over the course of the rally by stressing his opponents with constant depth. But at 3-3 in the tiebreak, he noticed a chance too scrumptious to cross up.
Alcaraz kicked a second serve, supposed to jam Djokovic. But it was off the mark, and with a sitter heading proper into Djokovic’s forehand strike zone. The query was how a lot he needed to do with it. Djokovic stepped in and punished it with a crosscourt forehand winner tucked neatly contained in the service line. That was all of the cushion he wanted. He took the primary set, walked off court docket for a loo break, and Alcaraz stewed in his seat along with his head in his arms.
Neither aspect dipped in high quality within the second set. There is not any room to breathe in best-of-three format, and that is probably the most significant match in that format that these two will ever play towards one another. There had been some rallies right here that resembled corporal punishment, together with one late within the second set that left Djokovic bent over like he’d taken a kidney punch, retreating to his water bottle in the midst of the sport. If Alcaraz may maintain the match this bodily and drag it into a 3rd set, his legs would fare higher than his elder’s.
But Djokovic knew he wanted to be carried out in two. He got here into the second set with completely clear-eyed serving, hitting all his spots on his first serves and cashing out free factors, the ability he is refined most most in his late profession. With each servers unbreakable once more, they hurtled in direction of one other tiebreak. There was a ragged craving in Djokovic’s physique language, and a luminous refinement to the precise method. In the tiebreak he hit two of the perfect particular person pictures of his season, each of them forehands on the run—all his body weight going onto the surgically repaired knee—each of them breathtakingly crisp, impolite crosscourt winners that Alcaraz may solely monitor with despairing eyes. I felt positive that Djokovic would commerce in that knee for a gold medal, if it got here to that. His impeccable second-set tiebreak was an apt finish to a victory that ranks among the many most spectacular and sudden of his total profession.
Djokovic trembled on all fours after the win. Alcaraz gamely tried to do on-court interviews through tears. The highest achiever within the historical past of males’s tennis said that the sensation of profitable the gold medal “supersedes everything that I’ve ever felt on the tennis court.” He discovered some closure in Paris.
“That’s probably one of the biggest internal battles that I keep on fighting with myself,” Djokovic informed NBC after the win. “That I don’t feel like I’ve done enough, that I haven’t been enough in my life, on the court and off the court. So it’s a big lesson for me. 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.”
For Alcaraz, it was a uncommon disappointment on this summer time’s rampage of delights. His tennis is typified by the extraterrestrial capability to execute much more tough feats in probably the most tense conditions, and he didn’t fairly hit these highs on this match. “I’m a little bit disappointed about not playing my best tennis in some situations, in difficult situations,” he said afterward to press. “Tie-breaks, for example, he increased his level at the top and I couldn’t do it, so probably a bit sad thinking about those moments.”
Minding the small print is the distinction between profitable and dropping a match of this caliber: a putaway volley right here, a midcourt forehand there. Despite securing a lot {hardware} in latest weeks, Alcaraz has performed some patchy matches—take his final two rounds in Roland-Garros—that present he can lose contact along with his greatest tennis for lengthy stretches. But as soon as he does ratchet again as much as that high degree, it is typically untouchable, and he can recuperate in time to safe a win. Not towards a hellbent Djokovic, nevertheless. “In front of me, I had a really angry Novak,” Alcaraz stated. “An spectacular participant as we speak.” One of the few players alive who can make the Spanish phenom pay for any sloppiness is a 37-year-old who now, really, has nothing left to prove.
