The passing of the torch in men’s tennis adds another chapter written today when Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz takes on Serbia’s Novak Djokovic for Olympic gold at Roland Garros.
Two of the top players in the world, the pair have met six times on the ATP tour coming into Sunday’s Olympic singles final, splitting the meetings with three wins each. They’ve met once on the red clay in Paris a four-set Djokovic win in the French Open semifinals in 2023 although Alcaraz did win a clay court match over Djokovic in Madrid in their first-ever meeting in 2022. Alcaraz also won their most recent meeting, when he beat him in straight sets in the Wimbledon final earlier this summer.
While he was unable to complete the calendar-year Golden Slam in 2021, Djokovic can join Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal as the only men’s singles players to complete a career Golden Slam, winning all four majors and a gold medal, while Alcaraz would be just an Australian Open singles title away from a career Golden Slam, at only 21 years old.
Time: 6 a.m. ET/3 a.m. PT
Place: Court Phillipe-Chatrier, Roland Garros | Paris, France
TV Channel: NBC
Stream: Fubo, Peacock, NBCOlympics.com
Djokovic is incredible. He is still finding ways to challenge Alcaraz, even three hours into the match. He leads 4-2 in the tiebreak.
Djokovic knows how to bring out his best shots when it counts the most. Down 5-6 and seeing a third set quickly approaching, he bageled Alcaraz to tie the set 6-6.
Now Djokovic needs just seven points to capture the one title that has eluded him over his 20-year career: Olympic champion.
Djokovic and Alcaraz are tied 5-5 in the second set.
Alcaraz needs to win one of the next two games to stay in the match. If he can’t, the gold medal belongs to Djokovic.
The tennis has been masterful, but Alcaraz has the slight edge. He had answers for everything Djokovic threw at him in the last game, winning to put himself up 5-4 in the second set. He needs to win one more game to even the match at one set apiece.
The tone of this match changes from point to point. Djokovic and Alcaraz are playing phenomenal tennis, and now both are frustrated with various things. Djokovic has been frustrated with his box, insisting that they haven’t been helping him for the past two hours. Alcaraz is frustrated with himself for blowing some easy returns.
Djokovic hasn’t been free of errors, but he’s mostly managed to restrict them to moments when he’s not at risk of losing a game. Alcaraz has not.
In the last game, Djokovic tied the set 3-3 after Alcaraz hit an easy drop shot directly into the net. Djokovic needs just three more wins to take home the gold, and if Alcaraz keeps making mistakes like that, he just might do it.
Alcaraz, with 30 forced errors, is under a lot of pressure from Djokovic. But the unforced errors, currently at 26, have been causing him even more issues. He’s made some puzzling shots today, launching forehands high in to the stratosphere before they inevitably fall out of bounds.
Despite that, Alcaraz is still hitting shots that Djokovic can’t understand. Numerous times this match he’s hit what would normally be a winner, only to see Alcaraz return it and take the point. Djokovic then stands there, hands on his hips, shaking his head, and you can practically see the thought bubble above his head say “I’ve thrown everything I can at this guy. How can I beat him?!”
2024 is the first time in 14 years that Djokovic hasn’t won any of the first three Grand Slams. In fact, Djokovic hasn’t won a title all year, an extreme rarity.
But against Alcaraz today, Djokovic is looking better than he has since last season. He’s active and putting real pressure on Alcaraz, who has admitted to experiencing nerves before playing Djokovic before.
Alcaraz and Djokovic stayed together in the tiebreak through 3-3, but then Djokovic pulled away. After Alcaraz sent a drop shot to Djokovic, Djokovic returned it with his own bonkers drop shot that was entirely out of reach for Carlitos.
Djokovic is 37 and coming off of minor meniscus surgery, and he’s keeping up with a 21-year-old virtuoso who beat him just a month ago at Wimbledon. He also prevented Alcaraz from breaking him even once in the first set. Alcaraz was 0-for-8 in break points, which is tremendously unusual for him.
If Djokovic wins this gold medal, he will absolutely deserve it. Not because of his long, successful career, but because of his performance today. He’s had to dig deeper and be more creative against Alcaraz than any other opponent he’s faced in Paris over the last week.
Djokovic was just one point away from winning the set, but crafty Carlos managed to steal the game right out from under him. Tied at 6-6, they now head to the tiebreak. First to seven points wins the set.
Alcaraz easily tied the set 5-5, but down 30-40 he made a critical misjudgment on a shot and it landed out of bounds.
Now once again Alcaraz must win this game to save the first set and force a tiebreaker.
Tied 4-4, Alcaraz and Djokovic just finished playing a game that lasted nearly 15 minutes. Both had numerous chances to win, but it wad Djokovic who finally, finally managed to string enough points together to claim victory.
Alcaraz is in a tough spot. If he doesn’t win this game, he loses the entire first set. With this final being best of three instead of the normal Grand Slam best of five, the only way for him to win gold if he loses the first set is to win the next two. Otherwise, Djokovic gets his long-awaited gold and Alcaraz will have to settle for silver.
We’re seeing incredible, gutsy tennis from two guys who clearly enjoy tennis and enjoy playing against each other. It’s the kind of tennis that creates iconic photographs. Here are a few.
Grab your largest mug and fill it to the top with your best coffee, because we might be here for awhile. They’re fighting tooth and nail for every single point.
But unlike a Grand Slam final, which is five sets, the Olympic gold medal final is just three sets. Every single shot matters, because mistakes will cost you.
Djokovic almost lost that game at least twice, but managed to pull out a hold to regain the lead at 3-2
Alcaraz has not been playing his best tennis to start the match, but he came all the way back from 0-40 to win Game 4 and tie the set at 2-2.
Nerves might be the reason for the early stumbles of both Alcaraz and Djokovic. Alcaraz in particular has been jumping up and down and shaking out his arms, like he’s trying to settle himself down.
Even the two biggest players in the game still get nerves at the Olympics!
The queen and undisputed GOAT of women’s tennis, Serena Williams, is watching Alcaraz vs. Djokovic very intently.
Spotted at Alcaraz vs Djokovic #Paris2024 | #Tennis | @serenawilliams pic.twitter.com/6uPBNvfpY9
Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) August 4, 2024
Djokovic has been trying to win a gold medal for well over a decade. He won bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, his very first Games, at the tender age of 21. Since then he’s competed in two other Olympics (not counting 2024), the 2012 London Games and the and the 2020 Tokyo Games. He came in fourth both times.
Djokovic, who is wearing a compression wrap on his right knee, has won the first game of the entire match. We’ll have to wait and see if his balky knee, which he tweaked last week, will affect him against one of the best movers in the game
It’s Mary Carillo and Renee Stubbs on the mic for Peacock, a great pairing for what we hope will be a dynamite match. The temperature at Roland Garros is 71 degrees, and with that gorgeous sunlight it feels like 76. You could not ask for better weather for this gold medal match.
With the women’s doubles bronze medal complete (congratulations, Spain!) it’s time to switch gears to the match everyone is waking up to see: Carlos Alcaraz vs. Novak Djokovic facing off for the gold medal in men’s singles.
It’s a 6-2, 6-2 win for Cristina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes Tormo to take the bronze medal. The one-sided match took an hour and 13 minutes.
Next up: Alcaraz vs. Djokovic.
Bucsa and Sorribes Tormo are up 3-0 and the Czechs’ hopes are fading fast.
That didn’t look too difficult for the Spanish pair, who made only two unforced errors and got in 21 of 25 first serves. They’re a set from a bronze medal.
It might only be a bronze medal match, but all four of these players have never won an Olympic medal. They’re going to want this.
The final day of tennis at Roland Garros is here, but it might take a couple of hours to reach the match everyone’s waiting for: Carlos Alcaraz vs. Novak Djokovic.
The men’s singles gold medal match is the second match of the day at Court Philippe-Chatrier. The first match n: the women’s doubles bronze medal match between the Czech pair of Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova and the Spanish pair of Cristina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes Tormo.