Djokovic wins his 1st Olympic gold medal by beating Alcaraz in men’s tennis final

PARIS — For all of his Grand Slam championships and different titles, for all of his time at No. 1, Novak Djokovic actually, actually needed an Olympic gold medal for Serbia, the final important accomplishment lacking from his glittering resume.

He lastly acquired one at age 37 on Sunday, beating Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) in an enthralling and evenly matched males’s tennis singles remaining on the 2024 Video games.

In a way, it does not matter one bit how lengthy it took, after all. Djokovic is now an Olympic champion and ceaselessly can be. And in one other sense, the years of ready, the stumbles alongside the journey, made him recognize this triumph as a lot as — no, make that greater than — each different, which is why his palms trembled when he knelt on Court docket Philippe Chatrier’s crimson clay on the finish and why his tears flowed.

“After I take every thing into consideration, this in all probability is the most important sporting success I ever had in my profession,” stated Djokovic, who did not drop a set in Paris and is the oldest man to win the Summer time Video games tennis title since 1908. “This type of supersedes every thing that I imagined, that I hoped that I may expertise, that I may really feel.”

With margins so skinny that any mistake felt as if it may tilt issues, Djokovic was at his greatest when the stakes have been highest, dominating every of the 2 tiebreakers in opposition to Alcaraz, who beat him within the Wimbledon remaining three weeks in the past.

“Within the shut moments, within the troublesome conditions, within the tiebreaks, he performed a powerful recreation,” stated silver medalist Alcaraz, the 21-year-old from Spain who sobbed, too, after falling wanting changing into the youngest male singles gold medalist. “That’s why I noticed that he’s hungry for the gold medal. He was going to go for it.”

Djokovic already owns a males’s-record 24 Grand Slam trophies and probably the most weeks spent atop within the rankings by any man or lady. He additionally already owned an Olympics medal, from 2008, however it was a bronze — and he made it clear that merely wasn’t adequate. He saved speaking over the previous week, but in addition the previous months, about what a precedence the gold was for him — and Alcaraz stated Sunday he saved listening to about it.

Till getting Paris bronze medalist Lorenzo Musetti of Italy on Friday, Djokovic was 0-3 in Olympic semifinals, dropping to the gold winner every time: Rafael Nadal at Beijing in 2008, Andy Murray at London in 2012, and Alexander Zverev in Tokyo three years in the past.

This time, Djokovic stated, “I used to be prepared.”

In Paris, carrying a grey sleeve over the fitting knee that required surgical procedure for a torn meniscus two months in the past, Djokovic confronted Nadal within the second spherical and eradicated his longtime rival in straight units.

The two-hour, 50-minute remaining featured probably the greatest to ever do it, in Djokovic — and the “highest mountain to climb for the time being,” in Alcaraz, as Djokovic put it.

There was very good ball-striking, deft drop pictures and great sprinting, sliding, stretching protection. The No. 1 seed Djokovic saved eight break factors, No. 2 Alcaraz saved six. Strain? Ha. What stress?

“We each performed at a really excessive stage,” Djokovic stated. “We actually went toe-to-toe.”

The one disgrace, maybe, for the followers — and, naturally, Alcaraz — was that the Olympics makes use of a best-of-three-set format, as an alternative of the best-of-five at Grand Slam tournaments. These within the stands grew to become a part of the present, breaking out into choruses of “No-le! No-le!” or “Automobile-los! Automobile-los!” that usually overlapped, creating an operatic fugue. As Alcaraz tried to mount a comeback, his supporters chanted “Si, se puede!” (basically, “Sure, you’ll be able to!”).

But the place was as quiet as a theater between factors; play was delayed briefly when a younger baby’s crying pierced the air that was thick with anticipation.

The primary set alone lasted greater than 1 1/2 hours, stuffed with epic pictures and epic video games. One lasted 18 factors unfold over greater than a dozen mesmerizing minutes on the way in which to that tiebreaker, when Djokovic grabbed the final 4 factors, then turned to face his visitor field — which included his tennis crew and his spouse and their two kids — with a fist held excessive.

Within the second tiebreaker, after Djokovic laced a cross-court forehand winner on the run to cap a 10-shot level for a 3-2 lead, he waved his arms to encourage the parents standing and screaming. Quickly, thanks to 1 final forehand winner, he had earned that prize he needed, in the end.

When the Serbian nationwide anthem completed ringing out, Djokovic reached for his gold and introduced it to his lips for a kiss.

Was he apprehensive that second would by no means arrive?

“There are at all times doubts. Completely, I had doubts,” Djokovic stated. “However the perception and the conviction that I could make it’s stronger than my doubts. It at all times has been. I knew that it’s going to occur. It was only a matter of when it’s going to occur.”

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games