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Serbian legend Novak Djokovic completed the Golden Slam of tennis on Sunday. He defeated Spain’s young Carlos Alcaraz 7-6, 7-6 in the men’s singles gold medal match. Djokovic won both sets in the tie-breaker round.
This is the first Olympic gold of Djokovic’s career. He has won 24 Grand Slams before this. There are 4 Grand Slams in tennis, these include Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open. In tennis, the one who wins all four Grand Slams and Olympic Gold is considered a Golden Slam winner. Djokovic became only the 5th player to do so.
As soon as he won the Olympic gold, tears welled up in the eyes of 37-year-old Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic beats Wimbledon champion
The men’s singles gold medal match was played at Roland Garros court in Paris. Carlos Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the Wimbledon final last month. Alcaraz also won the 2023 Wimbledon by defeating Djokovic.
In the final, Djokovic overcame his previous defeat and kept the pressure on Alcaraz from the very beginning. He took the lead in the first set, but Alcaraz somehow took the matter to a tie-breaker. In the tie-breaker, Djokovic won 7-3 and took a 1-0 lead.
In the second set, Alcaraz put pressure, he was leading till half the set, but Djokovic made a comeback and took the matter to the tie breaker. Djokovic again prevailed and won the tie breaker 7-2 to win the Olympic gold.
Djokovic won his second Olympic medal
37-year-old Djokovic has won only one Olympic medal before this. This medal also came in the form of bronze in the 2008 Olympics. He was defeated by Rafael Nadal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Andy Murray in the 2012 London Olympics and Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
After losing three semi-finals in the Olympics, Djokovic now made it to the finals and won the gold by defeating the toughest player of the present times, Alcaraz. Djokovic became the oldest player to win the tennis singles gold since 1908. He also stopped 21-year-old Alcaraz from becoming the youngest Olympic champion.
Djokovic won his first Grand Slam in 2008 and by 2024 he has won the most number of Grand Slams with 24.
Alcaraz also won the French Open this year
In 2024, Alcaraz won the French Open in May and Wimbledon in July. The French Open was played at Roland Garros, where he won the Grand Slam, but could not win the Olympic gold. Apart from winning Wimbledon twice, he also won the US Open in 2022. This was also his first Grand Slam.
Alcaraz has not been able to win the Australian Open yet, but he has won 4 Grand Slams. On the other hand, Djokovic has won the Australian Open title a maximum of 10 times in his career.
Djokovic is also an 8-time Wimbledon champion
Djokovic won his first Grand Slam in the form of the Australian Open in 2008. He won it 10 times till 2023. Djokovic has won the French Open 3 times and the US Open 4 times. He is also an 8-time Wimbledon champion, where Alcaraz has been defeating him in the final for the last 2 times.
Became the 5th player to win a career Golden Slam
Djokovic became only the 5th player in history to win a Golden Slam in tennis career. Before him, only Spain’s Rafael Nadal, America’s Serena Williams, America’s Andre Agassi and Germany’s Steffi Graf have won a career Grand Slam.
Bronze medal for Lorenzo Musetti
Lorenzo Musetti of Italy won the bronze medal in Olympic men’s singles. In women’s singles, Zheng Qingwen of China won the gold and Donna Vekic of Croatia won the silver medal. Iga Swiatek of Poland won the bronze medal by defeating Ana Carolina of Slovakia.
Carlos Alcaraz has won the first Olympic medal of his career.