Novak Djokovic described his Olympic gold medal on Sunday as “probably” his “greatest sporting success” and revealed he could defend his title at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, when he will turn 41. -6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/2) against Carlos Alcaraz in a thrilling final at Roland Garros to add Olympic gold to his 24 Grand Slam triumphs.
“This is probably the biggest sporting success I’ve ever had and the most special feeling,” said the 37-year-old Serbian.
“I thought carrying the flag at my country’s opening ceremony at the 2012 Olympics was the best feeling an athlete could have to date.
“Now, at 37 years old and facing a 21-year-old who is probably the best player in the world right now, winning Roland Garros and Wimbledon consecutively, I can say that this is probably the greatest sporting success I have ever had. I already have.”
Sunday’s victory allowed Djokovic to join Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams as the only players to win all four Grand Slam tournaments and Olympic singles gold, completing a career Golden Slam.
Novak Djokovic:
“This replaces everything I imagined and hoped to be able to experience and feel. The fact that I won Bronze in my first Olympics and since then I haven’t managed to win a medal… this is probably the biggest sporting success I’ve had in my career.”
– The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) August 4, 2024
Before defeating Alcaraz on Sunday, their best performance at the Olympics was in 2008 in Beijing, when they won bronze. He had also lost three semi-finals.
Now he wants to keep playing and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of trying to win back-to-back gold medals in Los Angeles in four years.
“I want to play in Los Angeles, I like playing for my country in the Olympic Games, in the Davis Cup,” he added.
Djokovic is the oldest singles champion since tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988 and destroyed Alcaraz’s bid to add gold to the French Open and Wimbledon titles he already bagged this summer.
– ‘My last chance’ –
An emotional Djokovic fell to his knees on Court Philippe Chatrier, where he won three French Opens, before raising the Serbian flag and climbing into the players’ box to hug his wife and children.
Novak Djokovic crying in disbelief
Congratulations to @DjokerNolefor finally winning the gold medal for your country and you completed not only tennis but also my childhood pic.twitter.com/E8e2HmY173
-Shane Gupta (@Shanegupta22) August 4, 2024
“We played almost three hours, the final move was the only moment I was sure I could win the match,” Djokovic said.
His title on Sunday was the 99th of his career and the first of 2024, after a difficult season in which Jannik Sinner succeeded him as Australian Open champion and went on to claim the world No. 1 spot.
Alcaraz then dismissed him from the French Open before denying him the chance to equal Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon titles.
A knee injury suffered at the French Open required surgery and his participation in the Olympic semi-finals briefly appeared in jeopardy when he appeared to aggravate the problem.
“I knew this could be my last chance to win a gold medal,” Djokovic added in his post-final press conference, still draped in his country’s flag and with the medal hanging proudly around his neck.
“I did everything I could to prepare for this period. The injury distracted me a little bit. But coming into the Olympics, I felt like a different player in terms of how I moved and how I played.”
“In some ways, losing heavily to Alcaraz at Wimbledon probably worked in my favor as I knew I couldn’t play worse than that.”
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