Novak Djokovic won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, shocking the world and proving to be a true legend. The former world number 1 had said several times that the gold medal at the Olympics was an obsession for him, which led him to mismanage the pressure in previous editions of the Games. The 24-time Grand Slam champion had been in tears after losing to Juan Martin del Potro at Rio 2016, while in Tokyo 2020 he was defeated by Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals after dominating the first part of the match.
Novak was not the main contender for victory at the Paris Olympics, also due to a very disappointing first part of the season. The 37-year-old from Belgrade has yet to win an ATP title in 2024 and his decline seemed to have begun, especially after losses against Jannik Sinner at the Australian Open and against Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the Wimbledon Championships.
The Serbian champion played a crazy final against Carlos Alcaraz in Paris, on an area that was much more suited to the characteristics of the young Spaniard. Nole missed the Montreal and Cincinnati Masters 1000 after the Paris Olympics and he has recently resumed training for the 2024 US Open.
Rennae Stubbs opens up on Nole
Thanks to his victory at the Paris Olympics, Novak Djokovic has finally completed the puzzle and confirmed that he is the greatest tennis player ever.
During the latest edition of her podcast, former doubles World No.1 Rennae Stubbs discussed Djokovic’s triumph in Paris: “He joins an exclusive club of gold medal champions in singles because Rafa [Nadal] won in singles and doubles, Steffi Graf of course did what we will probably never see again — winning all four Grand Slams and then winning a gold medal. But Novak joins Andre Agassi, the likes of these players. Roger Federer is not even on that list. Although Roger won a gold medal in doubles, he never did this in singles so that’s something that I am sure Novak is really happy that he has got over Roger.
I feel like the entire year Novak was telling us his goal this year is to get a gold medal. And then to go out there and not have a great year in terms of Novak standard and get to the Olympics, through some of those tough matches on the way to the gold medal and then to actually get the gold medal, do that thing you’ve been telling people the whole year, ‘Hey this is the number one thing I want to accomplish’, was an amazing thing to see.”
According to the bookmakers, Novak Djokovic is the second favourite for the US Open victory along with Jannik Sinner and behind Carlos Alcaraz. The Serbian champion won the US Open last year beating Daniil Medvedev in the final, but his dream of completing the Grand Slam Calendar was stopped in the Wimbledon Championships final. During his last training sessions in Montenegro, Nole was seen training without wearing the knee protection.
Djokovic practising without his knee protection for the first time since his injury at Roland Garros. Good to see ahead of the US Open 🇺🇸
The last *full* season that Novak went without any Major title was 2010, let’s see if he can continue the streak 🏆pic.twitter.com/xXmtBvW0DC
— Olly 🎾🇬🇧 (@Olly_Tennis_) August 18, 2024
In a recent interview with ‘We Love Tennis’, Ion Tiriac commented on the Big 3: “Actually, I know very little about Roger Federer but he always respected me. Like the other stars on the tour, he calls me the chef. I sincerely think that he is really a category apart if we compare him to Nadal or Djokovic for example. He’s a player who invented things on a tennis court that didn’t exist. Physically, he was always a little below Djokovic and Nadal, but the talent he had in his hands is a certainty.”
Djokovic trains without knee protection
Djokovic has broken almost all records in the last decade and is considered the best ever by many insiders and former players. Nole recently commented on the controversy surrounding the shocking match point in the match between Jack Draper and Felix Auger-Aliassime in Cincinnati.
“It’s embarrassing that we don’t have video replay for these kinds of situations on the court. What’s even more ridiculous is that we don’t have a rule that would allow the chair umpire to change the initial decision based on the video review seen off the court. Everyone watching the action on TV knows what happened, but the players are left in complete darkness, not knowing the outcome. We have hawk-eye for ball bounce reviews, we live in the 21st century, we are technologically advanced. Please, ATP circuit leaders, ensure that this nonsense does not happen again” – Djokovic stated on social media.
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