HAVING scaled his Mount Olympus this month to claim the Olympic gold medal that had eluded him, Novak Djokovic has nothing left to prove and can put more daylight between himself and his two historic rivals by winning another major at the US Open.
The 37-year-old Serbia great fell to his knees and sobbed into the Parisian clay after beating young gun Carlos Alcaraz to complete the “Golden Slam” and put an exclamation mark on his already cemented status as the GOAT of men’s tennis.
Mr. Djokovic won his 24th Grand Slam title in New York last year to move two ahead of Spaniard Rafa Nadal, whose career is winding down and who will not compete at the year’s final major, and four clear of retired Swiss maestro Roger Feeder.
Mr. Djokovic, Mr. Nadal and Mr. Federer once comprised the Big Three that had a two-decade long stranglehold on the men’s game but the current world number two is last man standing this year.
“He’s looking to sort of separate himself from Federer and Nadal, that’s really is what it boils down to,” former world number one turned ESPN broadcaster John McEnroe told reporters.
“He seems to have already done that in a way. He’s won the Olympics, won everything, won more than those guys. To me, you’d have to ask him, but it (more success) is gravy. He sort of put himself there already.”
Mr. Djokovic’s Paris triumph was all the more impressive as it came two months after knee surgery and was against Mr. Alcaraz, the 21-year-old Spaniard who thrashed him in this year’s Wimbledon final in what felt like it might be a changing of the guard.
Mr. Djokovic got a hero’s welcome from the thousands on hand to greet him when he returned to Belgrade on Monday, and has called the Olympic title “the biggest sporting achievement I have had.”
The affection he felt in Serbia’s capital stands in contrast to the at times frosty reception he has received from tennis fans around the world who fell in love with Mr. Federer and Mr. Nadal before Mr. Djokovic came along and usurped his rivals.
“It was a fairy tale,” former world number one and ESPN commentator Chris Evert said of Mr. Djokovic striking gold in Paris. — Reuters
