Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal in their 60th career meeting this week at the Paris Olympics.
It will be a week of career reflection as Novak Djokovic continues to pinch himself to make doubly sure it all happened.
When Rafael Nadal and Djokovic hadn’t quite convinced us that they’d still be winning it all 16-years on, the 2008 Beijing Olympics welcomed the young pair, snapping to get their hands on the title.
Little has changed in some ways, with both still as ruthless in victory as they always were, but only now will Djokovic look back on that semi-final Olympic defeat to Nadal with a hint of fondness.
He’s finally won Olympic gold after heartbreak in Tokyo, a shock exit from Rio, fourth in London, bronze in Beijing.
Rafael Nadal sends congratulatory message to Novak Djokovic after winning Olympic gold
Tennis is always coming up with names to honor players whose enormous success they didn’t really account for.
The ‘Career Golden Slam’ is something only Nadal holds out of all players who are still active on the tour.
Andre Agassi, Serena Williams, Steffi Graf are the three others who’ve secured all four majors and an Olympic gold.
On Nadal’s Instagram story, above a picture of the five who’ve achieved the ‘golden slam’ he wrote: “Congrats Novak on achieving the Golden Slam and being able to achieve what you wanted. Well done.”
With Nadal also sending an Olympic message to Carlos Alcaraz, whose silver medal, quite reasonably might I add, took him a minute to appreciate, his respect for the talent of today is still so high.
If anyone’s going to be next to complete the Golden Slam, it will be Carlos Alcaraz
Had Alcaraz managed to convert just two of the many break point chances he had, a different story would be told – the 21-year-old would only be an Australian Open away from joining the prestigious list, and almost certainly shutting the door on Djokovic’s chances of ever making it.
His summer has been simply wild, winning his maiden French Open title, before thumping Djokovic to retain his Wimbledon crown.
With Alcaraz already having won four majors and seemingly been the one man to actually push Djokovic to a new level of excellence once three of the ‘Big Four’ no longer could, it’s easy to forget he is still 21.
There are still a number of tweaks to be made to the Alcaraz game, if you can believe it.
As he wears the pride of his nation on his sleeve, it’s difficult to imagine him not licking his lips at what Los Angeles in 2028 might hold.
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