August 4 might have appeared to be an bizarre Parisian Sunday full of laze and rest. It was something however that on this planet of tennis as Novak Djokovic cemented his standing as essentially the most prolific participant within the Open Period.
The person, donning primarily pink, fell to the hallowed pink dust of Court docket Philippe-Chatrier. Djokovic couldn’t maintain again his tears as a result of he knew this was it. Nothing got here near how a lot the 99th title of his profession meant. He had, eventually, overcome his longest-standing hurdle.
Victory on the Summer season Video games — it was no extra a distant dream, it was now a really actual results of the countless work he had put in and one which he’ll undoubtedly maintain closest to his coronary heart.
Perhaps it needed to do with the legendary nature of the Olympiad. Perhaps it needed to do with conquering the unconquered in his fifth try. Or perhaps, it had one thing to do with proving to the world, and himself to a point, that he was not an outsider. That’s what he had craved all alongside — not the endless stream of titles, not the 185 million USD in prize cash, however acceptance. That Novak Djokovic can also be a reputation that belongs in the identical dialog as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
He was at all times thought-about the ‘third get together’ among the many Massive Three.
Earlier than his entry, the prevailing rivalry on the forefront of males’s tennis between the Swiss Federer and Spaniard Nadal was perfect from an viewers’s perspective.
Nadal’s gritty warrior-like nature was the precise antithesis of Federer’s swish poise. It was the proper conflict of ideologies.
They went hand-in-glove with one another. It was the proper pairing. After which, out of nowhere, got here this boisterous Serbian expertise, who turned professional at 15. Djokovic disrupted the fairytale storyline.
However none of that issues anymore.
The Serb had conquered his ultimate peak and fittingly sealed his profession Golden Slam with an Olympic gold, turning into solely the fifth participant to take action after Steffi Graff, Andre Agassi, Serena Williams and Nadal.
In his quest to etch his title within the tennis books as one of many biggest to ever do it, Djokovic has gone above and past and obliterated any room there might have been for debate.
With 99 titles, 24 Majors (10 Australian Open, three Roland-Garros, seven Wimbledon and 4 US Open), the elusive Olympic Gold, 1116 singles victories, and a win charge of 83.5%, Novak Djokovic has single-handedly put an finish to a dialog spanning many years and has proved himself to be one of the best participant to ever decide up a tennis racquet.
The ultimate piece of the puzzle
Paris 2024 would mark Djokovic’s fifth try at taking residence the gold on the Summer season Video games, an uncharacteristically lengthy wait for somebody so used to profitable all the pieces he contests.
The closest the Serb had come earlier than this was on his debut in Beijing 2008 when he got here third after dropping to nemesis Nadal earlier than beating American James Blake within the bronze-medal match.
Djokovic started the 2012 season by profitable his third Australian Open title after beating Nadal within the longest Grand Slam ultimate in Open Period historical past, a real show of the Serb’s grit and perseverance.
He reached the semifinals of the Olympics once more however misplaced to the eventual champion, Andy Murray, and succumbed to Juan Martin del Potro within the bronze-medal encounter in London.
Rio 2016 and the pandemic-hit Tokyo Video games produced comparable disappointments when Djokovic crashed out within the first spherical to Del Potro in Brazil and misplaced the bronze-medal match to Pablo Carreno Busta in 2021.
The ten-time Australian Open winner started this yr with a primary loss in Melbourne since 2018, his solely semifinal exit on the Rod Laver Enviornment, to Jannik Sinner.
On the Geneva Open, he claimed his 1100th win on his thirty seventh birthday, turning into solely the third Open participant to take action after Jimmy Connors and rival Federer.
At French Open, he was compelled to relinquish his crown and withdraw from the match resulting from a tear in his medial meniscus in the proper knee.
Djokovic would then endure surgical procedure and return in time for the All-England Championships. He battled his solution to the summit conflict the place he confronted, yet one more Spaniard, defending champion, Carlos Alcaraz.
Alcaraz coasted to a profitable Wimbledon title defence as he humbled Djokovic by beating him in straight units — 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4).
The wunderkind, touted to be Nadal’s next-in-line, appeared to have all of the solutions to the Serb’s hopeful prods. Alcaraz managed to drive 25 unforced errors out of the in any other case immaculate Djokovic on his solution to the crown.
Tennis on the Paris Olympics introduced with it an entire new spectrum of nuances. After eight days of scintillating motion, the Males’s singles finals beckoned.
Djokovic eventually, or Alcaraz for the primary time?
The Serb began strongly by profitable the primary sport and Alcaraz returned the favour. The primary actual check for the 24-time Grand Slam winner got here within the ninth sport when Djokovic displayed his mettle as he saved not one, not two, however 5 break factors to carry his serve and lead 5-4!
With each gamers holding their serve, the opening set of the gold medal match went right into a tiebreak.
With Alcaraz down three set factors, the Spaniard hit a cross-court forehand which Djokovic ever so deftly returned to take residence the primary set.
Standing tall
There he stood tall – clad within the pink, blue and white of his homeland, on the pink dust of Court docket Philippe-Chatrier – as he thrust his arm within the air and held his pose. The proper silhouette — the white cap, his piercing cheekbones, fist closed, the Lacoste wristband, even the sweat dripping down his forearm frozen in that second.
The Serbian tennis titan resembled the steely resolve of a God rising from Olympus. The bottom quaking, virtually prefer it was making ready for the inevitable. He was getting nearer and you possibly can odor the starvation, instilling in you a deathly concern.
The second set embarked similarly. One equal to the opposite, every holding his personal in an indication of approach, grit, and self-discipline. Quickly sufficient, the second set headed to a tiebreak as effectively.
Djokovic claimed the opening level with a monster forehand. The often composed Alcaraz turned feral. The frustration was taking up. He did effectively to stage the rating at 2-2. The Serb would go on to win the subsequent 4.
With 4 gold medal factors, Novak Djokovic was on the receiving finish of the serve. He was seconds away from the tip.
Alcaraz’s serve down the center, Djokovic’s return to the baseline, a below-par backhand to Djokovic, and a venomous forehand down the road later, it was over.
The 2024 Olympic gold medallist set free an prolonged grunt as he hit that final shot. He had performed it.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic reacts after defeating Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz within the males’s singles tennis ultimate on the Roland Garros Stadium in the course of the 2024 Summer season Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Paris, France.
| Photograph Credit score:
AP
The 37-year-old from Serbia turned to the gang as he broke down. The person who had conquered tennis, on all fours, bawling like a child. His thumb finger twitching amidst the incessant crying, Novak Djokovic’s physique was exorcising his demons of current and previous. There was nothing left to do.
The Gods of the game had deemed him worthy. It was time. As he was awarded the gold medal on the Paris Olympics 2024, Djokovic transcended tennis and assumed his throne, arguably on the centre, on the Mount Olympus of tennis.
