PARIS – Novak Djokovic, the most decorated player of all time, will play at the age of 37 in an instance he is unfamiliar with. Sunday’s Olympic final awaits him. Carlos Alcaraz, the favourite, awaits him. History is winking at him again. It is now or (most likely) never again.
He has never been so close to being an Olympic champion. He played three semi-finals at a Games and lost every time. Nadal in Beijing 2008, Murray in London 2012, Zverev in Tokyo 2020. That last one, in 2021, one of the toughest defeats of his life. A match with too many consequences that left him destroyed and made him unexpectedly give up a medal when he had the chance in the mixed doubles.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion was thinking about that insurmountable barrier: “That’s why I was very tense on the court, very nervous”. In the second set against Italian Lorenzo Musetti he showed that tension, when having the match under control he got into arguments with the umpire, and treated his team members with harsh words and shouting.
Very Djokovic-like, he came out of it feeding off the boos from the crowd, flawless tennis and with the help of the typical sins of tennis players not named Federer, Nadal or Murray.
“I have nothing to lose,” said the Serb to his interviewer Álex Corretja on the edge of the court after the victory and after having thrown himself to the floor with an important injection of relief. Because he had already secured a medal, because he won in an instance in which he had always failed.
That the tennis player whose last missing piece of the puzzle is Olympic gold has nothing to lose?
Possibly. Viktor Troicki, Serbia’s team captain and a close friend of Djokovic’s, told CLAY of the immense pressure Djokovic faced in Japan, when he was also competing to become the first man in history to win a Golden Slam and emulate Steffi Graf, the only person to do so.
And what the Serb did precisely by beating Musetti and reaching the final was to shed much of the bag of stones he was carrying.
It is also possible that the former world number one saying that is a way for him to keep taking responsibility away, and continue to imagine his Olympic adventure as if the event is only delivering things to him, rather than feeling that he is the defaulter paying off a debt.
Djokovic recalled that it has been several months, fourteen to be exact, since they last met competing against Alcaraz on clay. The Philippe Chatrier was that stage and an afternoon at Roland Garros 2023 that meant for the Spaniard perhaps the biggest stumble of his short career. The match of nerves and cramps that annulled the then 20-year-old. It ended up being a tremendous lesson for what was to come. Undoubtedly a match that explained the ultra-successful Alcaraz that came later.
The Serb mentioned the freshest precedent on the grass of Wimbledon and that undisputed and resounding victory for the two-time champion at the All England Club, a month ago.
“But this is a different surface and different conditions. I feel much better, I’m moving well, better than at Wimbledon,” said Djokovic, who will value the day off like no one else and perhaps repeat a formula that has brought him success this week in Paris: clearing his mind by attending other sports with his family, as when he went to support Serbia in volleyball, or when he enjoyed the most beautiful stadium in Olympic history in beach volleyball with the Eiffel Tower illuminated and escorted by the sunset.
The favourite on Sunday will be by far Alcaraz, who accumulated a few extra hours of rest from a beneficial schedule and a quick win against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Order of play was kind to the Serb as well, who was grateful to play in less heat and have more time to recover from a bad knee that didn’t really bother him or prevent him from showing the tennis that makes him look like a brick wall.
Djokovic appeared in front of the media lighter, like already fulfilled with what he had achieved in Paris 2024. His words were along those lines, and then found contradiction, more in the direction of his golden obsession.
“Whatever happens on Sunday will be a huge pride, honour and happiness. I still feel like I need to celebrate because it’s a huge success. I’ll go for the gold, but this is a big deal.”
Will he then be, in some way, satisfied with the silver and having reached the final he never knew?
Djokovic, makes a pause and reacts as if the question offends him: “Next question”.
