Olympic gold was conspicuous by its absence from Novak Djokovic’s list of achievements, the only piece the Serbian was missing to claim to be the best tennis player of all time, a medal he won at the 2024 Paris Games to complete all the horizons to which an athlete dedicated to the world of rackets can aspire.
When he became the athlete with the most Grand Slams of all time or the one who completed the most weeks at number 1, he already had enough arguments to be the best in history, but there was one thing left pending that the Spaniard Rafael Nadal, his greatest rival, did have: a gold medal.
From now on, Djokovic can also boast of having won the Olympic title, achieved on the fifth attempt, after three lost semi-finals and a bronze, won in Beijing 2008, which was almost a humiliation in the midst of so many successes.
Time
At 37, when everyone was predicting a declining career for him, the Serbian wanted to settle that debt with his own achievements, to achieve the success that had been denied him, on a stage as glorious as the centre court of Roland Garros and against a prestigious rival, the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who many consider the best candidate to dethrone him. He beat him with scores of 7-6 and 7-6, after two tie-break definitions.
His triumph in Paris not only draws him level with Nadal, it makes him only the third man to have won four Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal, something also achieved by the American André Agassi, as well as his compatriot Serena Williams and the German Steffi Graf, who is the only one to have achieved it all in the same year, 1988.
It was a condition so that no one would criticize his aspiration to become the best tennis player of all time, an honorary title for which he already had strong arguments, his 24 Grand Slams, at least three in each of them, his 428 weeks at number 1 in the world, his 40 Masters 1,000, his 99 titles on all surfaces.
He achieved it on the fifth attempt, after winning bronze in his debut in 2008, his two fourth places, in London 2012 (where he lost to Andy Murray in the semi-finals and to Juan Martín del Potro for bronze) and Tokyo 2020, defeated by Alexander Zverev and Pablo Carreño, and his failure in Rio, where he fell in the first round against Del Potro.
Serbian insistence
Many shots hit the post, but they made him the tennis player with the most victories in the Olympic tennis tournament, 19, but the final blow was still missing.
And he did it in the most uncertain year, a season in which he had not yet won any trophies, in which he had sparingly appeared on the court, prioritising the major tournaments, but without winning any.
He fell in the semi-finals of Australia, had to retire with a knee injury at Roland Garros and lost in the final of Wimbledon against Alcaraz.
But the Paris Olympic tournament was still in his sights, as if it were the only way to complete the circle of an endless list of achievements, which for the Serbian has a special meaning, that of playing for his country, something that always makes him transcend his own limits. In 2010 he brought his country the Davis Cup. Olympic gold was missing.
Unbeatable in Paris
That’s why he tried, despite those who already wrote him off, to become the oldest winner of a tennis gold since the sport returned to the Olympic programme in 1988 and the first to achieve it without losing a set.
Having become the first Serbian to win Olympic gold in tennis, Djokovic continues to close the gaps that are missing for him to hold all the records for a tennis player whose limits are running out.
“I was reluctant to win anything. I won bronze at my first Games and I was unable to win medals at the next three. Being here at 37 years old against Alcaraz, one of the best rivals in the world who has just won Roland Garros and who has tennis of enormous quality makes this the greatest success of my career,” said the Balkan player.
Paris / EFE
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2024-08-05 11:05:01
