The Olympics are already more than halfway done!
I know, it goes by fast, right?
Well, some major news, of course. Novak Djokovic, who already was probably the most decorated tennis athlete in history, added something major, and which he has been pursuing throughout his career, to his resume. He won Olympic Gold.
It was not easy. He had to get past the man who replaced him as the current world number one, 21-year-old Carlos Alcaraz. It was a tough, grueling match, despite only lasting two sets, with Djokovic ultimately prevailing, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-2).
Now, he finally managed to achieve the one major career accomplishment that had eluded him. He had already won the bronze in the 2008 Beijing games, but adds the gold in the 2024 Paris games.
How much does it mean to him?
Here were his thoughts after finally winning the Olympic gold medal:
"This kind of supersedes everything that I imagined, that I hoped that I could experience and that I could feel," Djokovic said. "The fact that I won the bronze in [my] first Olympic Games and ever since then failed to win the medal and played three out of four Olympic Games in semifinals and couldn't overcome that obstacle. And then now at age 37, [playing against a] 21-year-old, that is probably the best player in the world right now, [who won] Roland Garros, [won] back-to-back at Wimbledon, and [is] playing incredible tennis.
"Just when I take everything in consideration, this probably is the biggest sporting success I've ever had in my career."
Wow. Despite his already amazing, record-shattering achievements, he views this as his greatest single achievement in tennis. That's what winning gold at the Olympics meant to him. Here's more from Djokovic:
"I love this sport," he said. "I don't play it only to win the tournament. I play it because I really love competition. ... I don't know about the future, to be honest. I really want to be in the present moment to celebrate. [I] worked very hard, sacrificed a lot to be in this moment. It was a long journey, many, many years of dreaming to be holding the gold medal. So now it's about happiness, joy and celebration."
Meanwhile on the women's side, Zheng Qinwen managed to win China’s first Olympic tennis singles gold. She managed to defeat Donna Vekic of Croatia, 6-2, 6-3, in the Gold medal match.
France defeated Egypt, 3-1 in the late semifinal, qualifying them for the Gold Medal Match this weekend, which will be played at the Parc des Princes in Paris. Meanwhile in thee earlier game, Spain came back from an early deficit to get past surprisingly tough Morocco in the other semifinal. So Spain will play the hosts, France, in the Final, for the right to win Olympic Gold.
Below are the links to the articles with the information on tennis that I used in writing this particular blog entry, including the quotes by Djokovic:
Zheng Qinwen wins China’s first Olympic tennis singles gold, inspired by Li Na and Liu Xiang by Howard Fendrich, August 5, 2024:
https://apnews.com/article/olympics-2024-tennis-zheng-qinwen-vekic-women-gold-bf9f6ac344c2b819669d89a68a992d0f
Djokovic's résumé now complete with Olympic gold and Golden Slam On Sunday, Novak Djokovic won the only title missing from his resume: Olympic gold. AP Photo/Louise Delmotte D'Arcy Maine, ESPN.com Aug 4, 2024:
https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/40725526/olympics-2024-novak-djokovic-carlos-alcaraz-tennis-gold-medal
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