PARIS: Novak Djokovic insists Carlos Alcaraz will be the “favorite” for Olympic gold on Sunday in the latest instalment of tennis’s generational power grab.
At 37, Djokovic would be the oldest Olympic tennis singles champion since the sport returned to the Games at Seoul in 1988.
At 21, Alcaraz would be the youngest of all time.
A win for the Serb would be his first gold medal at the fifth attempt and represent a significant upgrade on the bronze he won at Beijing in 2008.
Victory would also allow Djokovic to become only the fifth player to complete the Golden Slam of all four majors plus an Olympic title.
Only Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Steffi Graf can make similar boasts.
However, Djokovic goes into Sunday’s high-profile clash still bruised by being swept off court by Alcaraz in a one-sided Wimbledon final just three weeks ago.
“I don’t consider myself a favorite because Alcaraz has proven he’s the best player in the world,” said Djokovic pointing to the Spaniard’s rare achievement of winning the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back.
“He won Roland Garros, he won Wimbledon and beat me in the final quite comfortably there.”
Despite his caution, Djokovic is nothing if not fired up for his seventh career clash against the Spanish crowd-pleaser.
In his stormy semifinal win over Lorenzo Musetti, he was warned for swearing and screamed at his support team watching nervously on Court Philippe Chatrier.
He is acutely aware that Paris 2024 is his last chance to finally capture an elusive gold.
“I was thinking about all the semifinals that I lost in the Olympic Games and that’s why I was very tense on the court. I was very nervous, a lot of emotions.”
Djokovic and Alcaraz have made the final without dropping a set while the Serb appeared to have no adverse reaction to aggravating his right knee injury during a last-eight win against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
He also believes he’s a “different player” to the one beaten so badly at Wimbledon.
“In the way I move, the way I’m striking the ball,” explained Djokovic, who has won three of his 24 Grand Slam titles in Paris.
“Not to take anything away from him winning the Wimbledon final, he was dominating and deservedly a winner, but I feel more confident about myself and my chances in the final.”
The two men have met twice on clay with Alcaraz on top in their first meeting in Madrid in 2022 while Djokovic prevailed in the French Open semifinals last year.
Alcaraz suffered body cramps in that loss, a factor he attributed to the stress of facing Djokovic.
Alcaraz is the fourth Spanish man to reach the Olympic men’s final after Jordi Arrese at Barcelona in 1992, Sergi Bruguera in Atlanta four years later and Nadal who won gold at Beijing in 2008.
“I have imagined (winning gold),” admitted Alcaraz. “I have thought about it and visualized it.
“It is something that boosts my mood, that gives me energy to keep going forward, keep learning, and give all my best every day.”
Victory on Sunday would allow Alcaraz to join Graf and Nadal as the only players to win the French Open, Wimbledon and Olympic gold in the same year.
“We are one step closer. I would love to add my name next to Steffi’s and Rafa’s, two legends from sport in general.
“But I will try not to think of every stat, the things I could achieve ... I will try to avoid all that, and keep improving, and give my best, and make Spanish people proud.”
Djokovic and Alcaraz eye power and glory in Olympic gold medal duel
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Djokovic and Alcaraz eye power and glory in Olympic gold medal duel
- At 37, Djokovic would be the oldest Olympic tennis singles champion since the sport returned to the Games at Seoul in 1988
- At 21, Alcaraz would be the youngest of all time
Bublik, Medvedev progress to second round of Dubai Tennis Championships
- Medvedev, the No. 3 seed this week, enjoyed a straight-sets victory over Juncheng Shang to set up last-16 tie with Swiss star Stan Wawrinka
- No. 2 seed Alexander Bublik needed only 66 minutes to see off Jan-Lennard Struff
DUBAI: Under the afternoon sun, the seeds blossomed. Day 2 of ATP 500 week at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships started with Daniil Medvedev showing clinical efficiency to dispatch China’s Juncheng Shang in little more than an hour. The Russian, seeded third this week and champion here in 2023, moved through the match with confidence to seal a 6-1, 6-3 win and set-up a last-16 tie with Stan Wawrinka.
Shang, the 21-year-old ranked World No. 262, has offered flashes of promise in recent months despite the inevitable growing pains of a young professional. In early January, he reached the quarterfinals in Hong Kong, a result that hinted at an upward trajectory, but consistency has since proved elusive and he had lost three of his previous four matches, including a 4-6, 2-6 defeat to Medvedev last week in Doha.
The rematch provided little reversal of fortune as Medvedev struck 20 winners and 10 aces, dictating play from the baseline and rarely allowing rallies to drift beyond his control. On serve, the World No. 11 was especially untouchable, capturing 81 percent of his first-serve points over the course of the contest to condemn Shang to consecutive defeats in subsequent weeks.
“Of course, I tried to play the same tactic (as last week) because if it works, you need to stick to it,” Medvedev said. “I knew he would of course try to adapt some things, so I tried to adapt to his adaptations and did that quite well. I saw he was struggling a bit at the end, but until then, I thought it was a fair match, and we were playing some pretty good points.”
For all the scoreboard’s lopsided tilt, there were moments of resistance. Early in the first set, the pair engaged in a bruising 34-shot rally — one of the longest exchanges of the tournament to date — that drew murmurs from the appreciative crowd. It was Medvedev, the former world No. 1, who ultimately claimed the point.
Asked where he feels the level of his game is coming into a tournament that features four other former Dubai champions as well as eight of the world’s top 20, Medvedev suggested he is more content than confident.
“Actually, I shouldn’t judge myself too much just now,” he said. “I lost a couple of matches lately and whenever you do it, you always feel like you are playing worse. I should try to pump myself up instead. I won 6-1, 6-3, so if we don’t put every point under the microscope, it was a good level in general, I look forward to the next match and raising my level even more.”
Medvedev had barely finished his post-match media duties when Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik, the world No. 10 and this week’s No. 2 seed, strolled onto the 5,000-capacity Centre Court to open his own campaign. Facing a “lucky loser” in Jan-Lennard Struff, Bublik was a picture of composure despite entering the tie on the wrong side of a 3-2 head-to-head record and having required three sets to get past the same opponent only a couple of weeks ago in Rotterdam.
Bublik, breaking his German opponent’s serve at the first opportunity, took an early 3-1 lead and refused to relinquish it, hitting six aces as well as saving three breakpoints. Battling throughout, Struff — ranked 70 places below his opponent in the world rankings — showed fight but could not level the tie. When his own service game was broken again in the ninth game, the first set went to Bublik 6-3.
Struff found his serve in the second set, hitting six aces of his own, but Bublik was not for budging and took his tally to 12 overall. With the set going with serve, the Kazakh eventually got the all-important break in the 10th to take the set 6-4 and seal comfortable passage to the second round.
“I think I played a solid match,” said Bublik, who lost in the Dubai final two years ago. “I mean, it's never easy to face Jan. I’m trailing a bit in the head-to-head, but I knew what I had to do. I knew what shots I have to execute to get more chances to win easily, and I think I did well in more important moments.”
Bublik is enjoying a career-high ranking of No. 10, but insisted he prefers to focus on his game, knowing the two factors are not mutually exclusive. “It’s just a number and if you play well, you’re going to have a better ranking,” he said. “If you start losing matches, the ranking is going to go down very quickly if everyone else plays well. So, for me, it’s more about keeping my game and enjoying the moment.”
