Despite the 24 Grand Slam titles to his name, having won nearly everything the sport of tennis has to offer, Serbia's Novak Djokovic knew his career was incomplete. Four times he tried and four times he failed to win a gold medal at the Olympics, a piece of hardware he sought not only for personal prestige but as a means of honoring his country.
Djokovic on Sunday completed his journey at the 2024 Paris Olympics taking down Spain's Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-3) in straight sets to win the gold medal for Serbia and complete the iconic Golden Slam that puts him in distinct company.
The moment meant so much to Djokovic, 37, that he was not only crying tears of joy but physically shaking with a towel over his face as he attempted to process what he just accomplished.
Djokovic entered Sunday's gold medal match as the oldest player in history to reach an Olympic tennis singles final. By taking down Alcaraz, he joins an elite list of tennis players who have Olympic gold along with titles in each of the four major championships. The Golden Slam has only been won previously by Germany's Steffi Graf (1988), the United States' Andre Agassi (1999), Spain's Rafael Nadal (2010) and the United States' Serena Williams (2012).
"I'm overwhelmed with everything that I'm feeling right now. Millions of different emotions, of course positive," Djokovic said. "Too proud. Too happy. Thrilled with the possibility to fight for a gold and to win a gold for the first time in my career for my country, arguably the biggest success I've ever had."
Beating Alcaraz was not an easy task as their battle lasted 2 hours and 52 minutes. It was intense from the start as the ninth game of the first set lasted about 15 minutes with Djokovic needing to save five break points to take a 5-4 lead. He had to truly earn every single point with the first set taking 1 hour and 34 minutes, including a tiebreak.
The job did not get any easier as the match continued as Alcaraz was doing everything in his power to force a third set. After an hour spent in the second set, they had to go into another tiebreak.
Though Alcaraz gave his all and fought back from a 2-0 deficit to even the tiebreak, Djokovic's will overcame the 21-year-old's youth as he won five straight points to claim gold with Alcaraz earning silver.
"I'm a little bit disappointed, but I'm going to leave the court with the head really really high," said Alcaraz, already a four-time major winner. "I gave everything I had. Fighting for Spain, it was everything to me. I'm proud of the way I played today."
While this was possibly Djokovic's last Olympics, Alcaraz is the youngest man to win a Grand Slam title on grass, clay and hard courts, and he's the youngest to make it to the gold medal match in the Olympics in 36 years.
Italy's Lorenzo Musetti previously earned the bronze medal on Saturday.
