By Martyn Herman
PARIS (Reuters) – Novak Djokovic on his knees sobbing tears of joy into the red Roland Garros clay after finally winning a gold medal will be the defining image of a magnificent Olympic tennis event.
The 37-year-old’s win over Carlos Alcaraz was one of the best Olympic matches since the sport returned to the fold in 1988 and will be prominent in the Paris 2024 highlights reel.
It was a story for the ages, a man investing every last drop of sweat to achieve a career Golden Slam and one that surely renders arguments about tennis’s place in the Games redundant.
“This kind of supersedes everything that I imagined,” Djokovic said, describing his Olympic gold medal as his greatest sporting achievement.
While it was mission accomplished for the Serb great it was also a job well done by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) who delivered a sensational nine days of tennis.
Helped by an iconic venue, large and passionate crowds and too many story lines to shake a baguette at, it was hard to argue against the Paris tournament being the best yet.
The sight of Rafa Nadal playing quite possibly for the last time on the court on which he won 14 French Open titles was spine-tingling — especially his two victories alongside Spain’s new golden boy Alcaraz. They could not deliver the doubles title but perhaps that was simply too much to ask for.
Three-time Grand Slam champion and two-time Olympic champion Andy Murray waved goodbye for a final time as he headed into retirement — and seemed happy for it to happen in Paris.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber of Germany also said her farewell to the sport in what felt like a cross-generational Olympic tournament.
Chinese sport has a new superstar in the form of 21-year-old Zheng Qinwen who became the country’s first Olympic singles champion by beating Donna Vekic in the women’s final.
And the other end of the spectrum, the high-quality men’s doubles final featured 40-year-old American Rajeev Ram — the oldest player to contest an Olympic final since 1988 — in a clash in which the combined age was 147.
Australian pair Matthew Ebden and John Peers proved worthy winners, as did Czech pairing Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac in the mixed doubles.
And just to bring the curtain down in fitting fashion, veteran Sara Errani and the ever-smiling Jasmine Paolini claimed Italy’s first-ever tennis gold by winning the women’s doubles. Like Djokovic, Errani completed her career Golden Slam, only in doubles, and summed up what it meant.
“This has been the dream for my whole life. I wanted it more than a slam,” Errani said.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
