By Matt Hill
After a blowout loss to Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final, not many experts gave Novak Djokovic a chance in the Olympic final including this sportswriter in a rematch with the Spaniard who is 16-years younger than him. However, if we have learned anything about Djokovic it is to bet against him at your own peril because he always delivers when we least expect it. On Sunday, Djokovic won a gold medal for Serbia in a classic match 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) at Roland Garros. Djokovic all year had been pointing to this moment and winning a gold medal for Serbia. Djokovic called it “The greatest moment of his career.” Alcaraz, meanwhile, was visibly upset after the match and was crying his eyes out. We will talk more about this at the end of the column.
The tennis was spectacular. There we no breaks in the match and in the end, it came down to tiebreakers. Djokovic raised his game in the tiebreaks and had no trouble in both sets. Alcaraz had his chances and hit some amazing shots, but he just couldn’t take advantage of the break point opportunities. Djokovic couldn’t either but stepped up in the tiebreaks to take the gold medal. The match reminded me a lot of the Cincinnati final last year, only both Djokovic and Alcaraz were playing at a high level at the same time. I think in some aspects it was a better match,
The rivalry between Alcaraz and Djokovic is going to go down as one of the all-time greats even though they will probably play a handful of times, but almost every match has been memorable. Probably of the top 10 classic men’s matches this decade, they have played against each other in four dating back to Madrid in 2022. The two players have brought the best out of one another. There was no more fitting place to settle the score than at Roland Garros at the Olympics.
Djokovic, in my opinion, asserted himself as the ultimate GOAT with that win. It is amazing to see on social media people that will not recognize that, but other than most tournaments won, which Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer are leading, he owns every record in tennis. To me it is a closed book. I know he is the least popular of the three GOATS and I do see why that is the case with sometimes how he acts in situations on the court and then there was the Covid deal, but talent wise to me he is definitely the greatest to ever pick up a racquet with Rod Laver maybe making a case for himself who played in a different era. Speaking of playing a GOAT, there was a very intriguing second-round match in the men’s singles between Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, won by Djokovic 6-4, 6-1. We will talk about Nadal more in-depth later in this column, but it was really unfortunate for Nadal he had to play that match in the second round, Other than a late surge by Rafa, it was all Djokovic. Now, when Djokovic won I still didn’t think Djokovic was going to win gold, but it had to give Djokovic confidence beating Nadal on Chatrier.
In the bronze medal men’s singles, Lorenzo Musetti defeated Felix Auger Aliassime 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Musetti has had a tremendous summer so far, reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon, winning the title at Umag and now bronze at the Olympics. He is definitely reaching toward the top of the sport and despite being somewhat of a late bloomer is making his mark on the sport.
WOMEN SINGLES: ZHENG USES TRIUMPH OVER SWIATEK TO THE GOLD
Everyone wondered when would Iga Swiatek lose a match in her prime at Roland Garros. Everyone had proclaimed her as the Queen of Clay after winning four of the last five Roland Garros titles and with the Olympics being in Paris on clay. Most assumed she would be the one to win it and that this wouldn’t be a very interesting tournament to watch. On the contrary, as Qinwen Zheng from China pulled a monster upset in the semifinals with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Swiatek. It really looked like Swiatek was unbeatable on this surface but the Olympics over the years have had some very different results and Zheng was a very capable player who played the match of her life to secure the win. Swiatek did go on to win the bronze but did not seem happy about it after the bronze medal match.
Even though Zheng made it to the Aussie Open final in what is considered Asia’s home slam, she really didn’t beat any notable players to get to that final. She has a lot to prove and in Iga’s castle, she took her down. After Zheng came out on fire in the first, Swiatek led 5-4 in the second, but Zheng was hitting lasers and she just overpowered Swiatek. Zheng won the match and then went on to defeat Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 to win the gold medal. Despite reaching the Australian Open final, it seemed like Zheng was still somewhat of an unknown quantity to casual fans, People definitely know her now. It was a tremendous victory. However, her run to the gold was almost ruined in the quarterfinals by a goodbye tour,
Angelique Kerber said before the Olympics that the Olympics would be her last tournament and she made the most of the experience, reaching the quarterfinals only to lose to the eventual champion Zheng 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 (6) in a dynamic match.
Kerber had nothing to lose in this Olympics and she went out and played a tremendous tournament. Yes, she had her chances against Zheng, but she also had nothing to be ashamed of. It was a great tournament and a great career, one that will probably end up as a first ballot Hall of Famer in Newport, Rhode Island at the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She won three grand slams during the Serena Williams dominance of women’s tennis. It was a very impressive run, but what I enjoyed about this week was how she was really having fun and just playing loose. It allowed Kerber to have one last run. And what a run it was.
MEN’S DOUBLES: MURRAY, NADAL SAY PROBABLE GOODBYES TO CHATRIER
While Matt Ebden and Jonathan Peers won the gold in men’s doubles and the United States teams of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram along with Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul won the silver and bronze, the story of the doubles competition was two legends possibly saying goodbye to Roland Garros for the last time. Andy Murray definitely said goodbye and Rafael Nadal possibly said so after bowing out of the event.
Murray gave the fans one more special moment this week as he probably played in one of the classic Olympic doubles matches. This match between Andy Murray and Dan Evans against Sander Gille and Joran Vilegen of Belgium had a special meaning to me because Gille is an alumnus from my college East Tennessee State, a small university in the mountains of Northeast Tennessee in the United States. We were about 10 years apart so we were not in school together, but we do have a connection as I used to cover the tennis program there for the school newspaper and I can tell you when that school has an Olympian, it is huge news. This story though, belongs to Murray and after they split sets, this match went to a third set tiebreak and Gille and Vilegen had two match points to end Murray’s career. Murray though, didn’t want to go out that way and the Brits rallied to score four-straight points to win the match. Murray bowed out in the next round, but a tremendous career had come to an end. It was amazing that he played this high level despite all of the injuries. He could have bowed out at Wimbledon, but he wanted to play one more time in the Olympics and he left us with a memory we will never forget.
Nadal played doubles with Alcaraz and it was very fun to watch. While Rafa is struggling on the singles court, he was thriving on the doubles court. After bowing out in the third round, the questions started going around whether Nadal had played his last match at Roland Garros. If you look solely at the wave goodbye, I say yes, but only Rafa knows that but when you look at how terrible the singles went, he just isn’t real competitive anymore and I don’t know how long he wants to take these beatings. We will have to see, but in my opinion this was the perfect way to go out, playing doubles with the heir apparent from Spain. In the end, the decision is Nadal’s and he has earned the right to go out on his terms.
WOMEN’S DOUBLES/MIXED DOUBLES: PLAYING FOR CANADA MEANS EVERYTHING TO ITS TOP-RANKED MALE PLAYER
Felix Auger-Aliassime is a total professional and class act, but one thing I have always admired about him is his love for his country and how proud he is to be a Canadian. He wanted to a win a medal for a nation that has had limited success in tennis over the years and he teamed up with Gabriela Dabrowski to do it, taking the bronze medal 6-3, 7-6 (2) over Demi Schuurs and Wesley Koolhof in mixed doubles. In the gold medal match, Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac won the gold over Xinyu Wang and Zhizhen Zheng of China 6-2, 5-7 (8) in a thriller.
For Auger-Aliassime, it has been a rough couple of years, but he seems to be on the right track now after a disastrous coaching experiment with Toni Nadal, Rafael Nadal’s uncle. He seems to be over that as he is back in the top 20 in singles and nearly medaled in singles as well, finishing fourth. He also made the final in Madrid. However, I don’t think there was any bigger accomplishment in his career than winning the bronze for Canada. He is always talking about how much he loves Canada and even though he does live and train in Monte-Carlo now and I don’t blame him for tax purposes, he has always been loyal to Canada and appears at a lot of Montreal Canadians hockey games. Most of all, Felix deserved it because he is a great role model and has great sportsmanship on the court. He is truly one of the good guys in tennis and you couldn’t be happier for him. He totally deserved that medal.
In the women’s doubles final, Italians Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani defeated Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider 2-6, 6-1 (10-7), who are Russians who were playing as neutrals due to the Russian ban in the Olympics because of the Ukraine war. It was a monumental victory of Errani, who is hanging on in singles but still is playing outstanding doubles. The win continues an outstanding summer for Paolini, who has made the singles and doubles finals at Roland Garros and the singles final at Wimbledon. Paolini finally had the moment she totally deserved on Sunday winning gold. It was another great story from this Olympics
DESPITE ITS CRITICS, OLYMPIC TENNIS IS A SPECIAL EVENT THAT MEANS MORE THAN A PAYCHECK
The Olympics really have changed over the years. For almost 100 years, the Olympics were an amateur only event and professionals were not allowed. In 1988, this all changed as the professional tennis players were included in the Seoul, South Korea games and Steffi Graf completed the calendar Golden Slam, the only one who has done that in a calendar year. Of course, adding pros to the Olympics did not sit well with purists who feel like this should be an amateur only event. I even heard those comments this week and saw them on certain tennis chats. However, if you have read the first four segments of this article, it is obvious how much the Olympics mean to these players.
Yes, there were some holdouts in the Olympics, mainly the Russian and Belarussian players who had to play as neutrals and the Americans that skipped to play a 500 event in Washington, D.C., but to those who did make the trip to Paris, it was obvious just how much they wanted the gold medal and what it meant to them when they got it. While this tournament had no ranking points, it still meant everything. When Djokovic won the gold, he celebrated like I have never seen him celebrate. He said it was the greatest achievement of his career winning a gold for Serbia. As we mentioned earlier, Felix winning a bronze for Canada was so special to him and he didn’t even finish in first place. It is just different winning those medals and playing for your nation.
Winning these medals mean just as much to the pros as the amateurs. Looking at another sport this weekend, Scottie Scheffler in golf had a similar reaction when he won the gold Sunday. Like Djokovic, Scheffler had been at the pinnacle of his sport but you could tell this was the biggest win of his career. Djokovic felt the same way. I think if he hadn’t won a gold medal, he would have had total regret. Now his career is complete. There really is nothing left for him to accomplish in the sport.
To address the comments, I heard about tennis in the Olympics, I don’t think it is any different than pro basketball players playing in the Olympics. To some tennis players, the Olympics is no big deal. It wasn’t a big deal to Pete Sampras back in the day and it doesn’t seem to be a big deal to a lot of the American players these days, but others it means a ton. I don’t think it is fake tennis at all, the storylines from this tournament were absolutely off the charts and we have highlighted almost all of them in my article. Yes, there are issues with the Olympics as a whole, mainly financial ruin for the host nation (The United States hosts in 2028) but it is the greatest spectacle in sports and I will continue watching them this week until the closing ceremony.
