Now Novak Djokovic's career puzzle is complete, there is nothing more to win. The Serb puts his Olympic victory above all his Grand Slam wins.
After winning the match point, Novak Djokovic hides his face in his hands, perhaps to hide a few tears. After a hug with Carlos Alcaraz, he sinks to his knees, kisses the clay of Roland Garros and looks up to the sky. "I thanked God for giving me the strength and the faith," the 37-year-old Serb explained later.
Does a career still need a crowning glory when you're already the best in history? Novak Djokovic thinks so. That's why he subordinated almost everything to the hunt for that one title he was still missing. He then appears at the media conference draped in the Serbian flag. Just how much this victory means to him is made clear by one sentence from the Serb: "This is the greatest success of my career."
Overwhelming pressure
He puts the Olympic victory above the 24 Grand Slam titles, which are more important in the tennis world. "That was the most difficult obstacle I had to overcome." Djokovic also explains why this is the case. He recalls his past failures at the Olympic Games. In 2008, he lost to Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals and went home with bronze. In 2012, he finished fourth after losing to Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro. In 2016, he lost to Del Potro in the first round, and in 2021 he finished 4th again after losing to Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals.
"These past failures weighed heavily on me," admits Djokovic. "The pressure is already great anyway, almost overwhelming when you play for your country. And you only get a chance every four years." Now the Serb has grabbed what will most likely be his last chance to win Olympic gold.
It is the victory that Djokovic desperately wanted this summer. Because he didn't want to take any risks at the French Open and wanted to have a meniscus operation straight away to be ready for the Olympics two months later. And how the 37-year-old Serb was ready. The gold medal was not given to him as a gift, in the final he faced the biggest possible hurdle in the form of Carlos Alcaraz, seventeen years his junior.
Like Agassi and Nadal
Once again, Djokovic showed all the qualities that have made the 24-time Grand Slam champion the undisputed most successful player in tennis history: his tenacity, his nerves of steel, his irrepressible will to win. Carlos Alcaraz also possesses these qualities in abundance, but on Sunday afternoon he found his master in the Serb.
As is so often the case, he of course achieved something historic again. He is now the second player in history, after Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal, to have won all four major tournaments and Olympic gold in the singles at least once. He is joined by Steffi Graf and Serena Williams in the women's singles. Until now, a bronze medal in 2008 had been Djokovic's only Olympic haul, but now he has also made up for it with the five rings.
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