Novak Djokovic checked off one of the only boxes left in his illustrious career.
The 37-year-old Serb became the fifth player of all-time to complete the Golden Slam, defeating Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) in an epochal gold medal match to join Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams as the only players to ever win all four majors along with Olympic gold.
“Arguably the biggest success I’ve ever had,” Djokovic said on Peacock’s broadcast.
Upon victory, Djokovic turned into a puddle, sobbing into a towel before lifting the Serbian flag and climbing into the stands to celebrate with his support team. Alcaraz, too, let forth tears, though there was no joy in accompaniment.
“I put my heart, my soul, my body, my family — my everything — on the line to win Olympic gold,” Djokovic told reporters in Paris. “Incredible battle, incredible fight.”
The best of both players was on display, with titanic rallies, out-of-nowhere shotmaking and neither able to touch the other’s serve throughout. So too was the worst, with Djokovic yelling at his box in Serbian and Alcaraz repeatedly looking frustrated after errors.
Djokovic’s experience, in the end, won out over the swashbuckling Spaniard. So did the sport of tennis, as one of its great rivalries played out with a gold medal on the line.
And in a match in which he was required to play all but perfectly, Djokovic never took his eye off the ball. It was his first title of the year, and one of the finest best-of-three finals he’s ever played.
A 95-minute first set — which featured a thrilling, 18-point game at four-all in which Djokovic fought off four break points — ended in a tiebreaker that, finally, lent control to Djokovic.
So too did the second set, which swayed back and forth before Djokovic won a mini-break on the tiebreak’s first point, giving him an opening he quickly took.
It left him telling Peacock that his career was, in essence, complete and giving rare introspection on live television.
“I’m telling myself, always, that I’m enough,” Djokovic said. “Because I can be very self-critical, that’s one of my biggest battles, internal battles that I keep fighting myself. I don’t feel like I’ve done enough, I haven’t been enough on the court, off the court.”
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Golden Slam in hand, he surely has now.
“It’s been a blessing for me. I’m super-grateful to win a historic gold medal for my country, to complete the golden slam, to complete all the records.”
From the outset, neither player was leaving anything on the table.
A titanic first set, in which neither player was broken, featured an array of shot-making on either side. It featured a titanic 18-point game at four-all, during which Djokovic fought off a foursome of break points, serving and volleying with expert precision.
It featured Alcaraz fending off set point in the very next game.
Finally, it featured Djokovic taking decisive control in a tiebreak, on minute 95 of the first set following four straight points that made Alcaraz rue the earlier break points he lost and taking the set with a lunging forehand volley that only he could have gotten, 7-3 in the breaker.
The second set played out much the same as the first — both players holding serve, both players making shots from everywhere on the court, veering towards another tiebreak.
Once it got to six-all, a forehand winner to produce a mini-break on the tiebreak’s first point quickly gave Djokovic the upper hand.
He never relinquished it, even as Alcaraz challenged him to hit picture-perfect winners.
On this Sunday afternoon in Paris, though, picture-perfect is just what Djokovic was.
After discussing his internal battles, Djokovic was asked whether he felt his achievements now — a record 24 majors, a record 40 Masters, a record seven ATP finals, a Davis Cup and now an Olympic gold medal — was enough.
“I think so,” he said, and the celebrating went on.
