PARIS — Novak Djokovic walked again out onto the court docket at Philippe-Chatrier and dropped to his knees.
Because the followers within the crowd — nonetheless waving a combination of Serbian and Spanish flags — stood collectively on their toes, loudly cheering and with their telephones pointed instantly at him, Djokovic slumped over together with his head on the bottom, nonetheless in disbelief. He finally lifted his head up and pointed to the sky.
A lifelong dream realized. 🥹
Novak Djokovic is overcome by emotion after profitable his first Olympic gold medal. #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/g7GI6cxmYa
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 4, 2024
When he walked to sit down in his chair, some 50 seconds later, he leaned again with a towel on his face and sobbed.
Greater than 20 years after his first match victory on the ATP Tour, 16 years after his debut main title, and in his fifth Olympic look, Djokovic had lastly achieved the one title, the one line on his résumé, that had eluded him:
Olympic gold medalist.
He had wanted tiebreaks in each units to defeat Carlos Alcaraz, his 21-year-old rival from Spain, who had defeated him within the Wimbledon ultimate simply three weeks earlier. The 2 had battled with one electrical rally after one other. However after two hours and 50 minutes, it was Djokovic who would emerge victorious, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2).
As he cried together with his household within the stands — his physique shaking as he clutched onto his youngsters and the Serbian flag — and when he proudly sang the nationwide anthem on the medal podium, it was clear this second meant the whole lot to him. Even to a person who had achieved just about the whole lot else within the sport, together with a record-tying 24 Grand Slam titles, bringing residence the gold medal to his beloved nation was a life’s dream achieved.
“I am simply over the moon. Actually, the whole lot that I felt in that second after I received actually surpassed the whole lot I believed or hoped that it [was] going to be,” Djokovic advised a room filled with reporters on Sunday evening, with the gold medal nonetheless round his neck and the Serbian flag wrapped round his shoulders. “I believed carrying the flag on the [2012 Olympic] opening ceremony was the most effective feeling ever till I skilled at this time. Being on that court docket with [the] Serbian flag elevating and singing [the] Serbian anthem and sporting the gold [medal] round my neck, I believe nothing can beat that by way of skilled sport.”
DJOKOVIC HAS HISTORICALLY struggled on the Olympics. He received a bronze medal in singles throughout his debut in 2008, however had by no means made his manner again to the rostrum.
However he received nearly the whole lot else. When he arrived in Tokyo in 2021, he was on a quest for the ultra-exclusive Golden Slam, wherein he was making an attempt to win the 4 Slams and Olympic singles gold multi function 12 months. He had received the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon that 12 months and superior to the semifinals on the Video games. After simply taking the primary set (6-1) over Alexander Zverev, all of it got here aside. He received simply 4 video games within the ultimate two units and his hopes of becoming a member of solely Steffi Graf (1988) in conducting that feat had been dashed. He misplaced within the bronze-medal match too, after which had his calendar Grand Slam desires squashed on the US Open within the ultimate.
Since then, he has develop into the winningest man in main historical past and tied Margaret Court docket’s longstanding file for probably the most Slam singles titles, and made a case for Biggest Of All Time standing. Nonetheless, this season hasn’t gone to plan.
Earlier than arriving in Paris for the Olympics, he hadn’t received a Slam this season, nor had he received a title of any variety. It marked his worst begin in a season since 2006. He sustained a proper knee damage through the French Open — at Roland Garros, the identical website of the Olympics — and was pressured to withdraw forward of his quarterfinal match. He underwent surgical procedure for a torn medial meniscus on June 5, initially placing his standing for Wimbledon in jeopardy.
However he returned in time for the match, solely to have his run on the All England Membership ruined, for the second 12 months in a row, by Alcaraz in a lopsided straight-set contest. Nonetheless, even hours after the loss, he remained looking forward to the Olympics.
“Let’s have a look at how bodily and mentally I will really feel,” he stated. “Hopefully I can discover the proper tennis as a result of I will want all I’ve and extra to go to the ultimate of the Olympic Video games.”
Up shut and private at Djokovic v. Alcaraz. 👀#ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/xH13p4J8oH
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 4, 2024
Maybe helped by the slower court docket velocity of the clay, or of the best-of-three-set format, Djokovic has performed a few of his finest tennis of the season this week in Paris. He defeated longtime foe and 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal within the second spherical, two-time main finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas within the quarterfinals, and the surging Lorenzo Musetti, who in the end claimed the bronze medal, within the semifinals.
On Sunday, the near-capacity crowd cut up their loyalties, usually chanting for each gamers on the identical time and leading to an indiscernible mashup of their names. Djokovic fought for each level. Whereas Alcaraz’s youth, velocity and dazzling capability to cowl the court docket had been on show all through, Djokovic was affected person and methodical and, regardless of occasional moments of frustration, held him off together with his personal signature ball placing and motion. Serbian followers, a number of of whom had been sporting variations of pretend gold medals, shouted “Idemo,” his trademark phrase of encouragement, throughout essential moments.
All through his run at Roland Garros, he by no means dropped a set, becoming a member of Serena Williams — who was in attendance on Sunday — as the one singles champions since tennis was reintroduced on the Olympics in 1988 to take action en path to the gold medal. He turned Serbia’s second medalist of the 2024 Video games and he’s now simply the fifth tennis participant to realize the profession Golden Slam, becoming a member of Graff, Nadal, Williams and Andre Agassi.
A nonetheless ecstatic and reflective Djokovic stated his previous struggles on the Olympics and the challenges he confronted this season solely made Sunday’s victory much more particular.
“This sort of supersedes the whole lot that I imagined, that I hoped that I might expertise and that I might really feel,” Djokovic stated. “The truth that I received the bronze in [my] first Olympic Video games and ever since then did not win the medal and performed three out of 4 Olympic Video games in semifinals and could not overcome that impediment. After which now at age 37, [playing against a] 21-year-old, that’s in all probability the most effective participant on the planet proper now, [who won] Roland Garros, [won] back-to-back at Wimbledon, and [is] enjoying unimaginable tennis.
“Simply after I take the whole lot in consideration, this in all probability is the most important sporting success I’ve ever had in my profession.”
With nothing left to show, and with no elusive title left to chase, Djokovic admitted his profession was in some methods full, however stated he had no plans of strolling away anytime quickly. He stated he hadn’t dominated out the opportunity of competing on the 2028 Video games in Los Angeles as members of his crew laughed within the nook of the room, and after jokingly defusing a query about operating for the Serbian presidency, Djokovic stated he was simply making an attempt to take pleasure in what he had labored so exhausting to realize.
“I really like this sport,” he stated. “I do not play it solely to win the match. I play it as a result of I actually love competitors. … I do not know concerning the future, to be trustworthy. I actually need to be within the current second to have a good time. [I] labored very exhausting, sacrificed lots to be on this second. It was a protracted journey, many, a few years of dreaming to be holding the gold medal. So now it is about happiness, pleasure and celebration.”
