Thursday 28 / November / 2024
Paris : Following his Paris Olympics gold medal win in the men's singles competition, Serbian legend Novak Djokovic completed tennis, securing everything to be won at the highest level and becoming only the fifth player to complete a Career Golden Slam.
Djokovic turned his ultimate dream into reality by winning his first Olympic gold by overcoming Spain's Carlos Alcaraz in the men's singles final in Paris on Sunday.
In a clash between the experienced tennis icon and the young Alcaraz, who brims with talent, Djokovic realised his ultimate dream by getting his hands on the first Olympic gold medal of his illustrious career.
The 24-time Grand Slam Champion was down on his knees and tears of joy fell from his eyes after taking the game point. With the name Djokovic echoing around the stadium, the Serbian climbed the stairs and went into the stands to celebrate with his family. After Djokovic's 7-6, 7-6 win in the gold medal match, the emotions got the better of Alcaraz as he settled for the silver medal.
Now after this win, he has won 24 Grand Slam titles, the most by anyone across both men's and women's tennis. Djokovic has won 10 Australian Open titles, three French Open titles, seven Wimbledon titles and four US Open titles.
Besides all this, he now finally has an Olympic gold medal, which is required for a player to complete a career golden slam.
Aside from his dominance at Grand Slam level, Djokovic has a total of 72 big titles in tennis. After spending years trying to catch up with stars like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, he has outshined them to become the leader of the modern-day 'Big Three' in tennis. This includes 40 ATP Masters titles as well and seven ATP Finals championship titles.
Nadal is second among the 'Big Three', with a total of 59 big titles, including 22 Grand Slams, which also includes a record 14 French Open titles, 36 ATP Masters titles and one Olympic gold medal in singles competition.
Federer is at number three, with 20 Grand Slam titles, including a record eight Wimbledon titles, 28 ATP Masters titles and six ATP Finals titles. This all combines and makes 54 big titles. He has no Olympic singles gold medal though, having one silver medal in the 2012 London Olympics.
Besides Djokovic, no other player has won an Olympic singles gold, Grand Slams and all nine ATP Masters 1000 titles.
Notably, Djokovic won all four grand slams in 2021 but failed to touch the rare feat of winning all four grand slams as well as the Olympic gold. Fast forward three years later, the Serbian legend finally has his hands on the elusive gold.
The blockbuster gold medal clash had its fair share of highlights, with Alcaraz flaunting his ace and Djokovic shinning with his precision.
In a neck-to-neck battle, Djokovic sealed the first game and stood inches away from breaking Alcaraz's serve.
Throughout the first set, fierce rallies unfolded with Alcaraz, quick as lightning, pulling off slapshots backhand and forehand shots from his arsenal. Djokovic relied on using the court to his advantage and negating the threat that Alacaraz carried.
Alcaraz and Djokovic stood steps away from breaking each other's serve numerous times. Eventually, Djokovic managed to take away Alcaraz's advantage during the breakpoint and smiled. Each time Alcaraz denied the Serbian to go ahead in the game, the Spaniard was more aggressive and animated in his reaction.
With the first set level at 6-6, the game went into a tiebreak. Djokovic took the first point after Alcaraz's attempt to slice a forehand shot went wide.
The Spaniard fought back to take the next point. The duo seemed inseparable until Djokovic upped the ante to take four consecutive points to seal the first set in his favour.
In the second set, the uncanny resemblance to the opening set continued to keep the packed audience in a state of trance.
Djokovic ensured that Alcaraz had no room to get close to the net and take control of their intense rallies. The second set featured some delightful rallies, forcing the fans to stand on their feet and appreciate the spectacle that the two produced. Drop shot was a common theme throughout those rallies, which was used by both tennis stars to overcome each other.
With the second set, going right down the wire at 6-6, Alcaraz needed to take the second set home to keep his hopes of standing at the top of the podium alive.
Djokovic raced to a 2-0 lead but Alcaraz fought back to level the scoreline. Djokovic relied on his strong forehand play to turn his dream into reality and win his first Olympic gold medal.
The heartbreak that Djokovic suffered in the Wimbledon final last month at the hands of Alcaraz became a distant memory.
