Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in the gold medal match in Paris Sunday to win his first Olympic gold medal—and his first title this year—in a battle between the world’s highest-paid tennis stars.
Key Takeaways
- Djokovik beat Alcaraz in two sets, winning one 7-6(3) and 7-6(2) after tie breaks.
- Serbia’s Djokovic, 37, was the top seed in the Paris Olympics and was looking to win his first gold—his only Olympic medal prior to this year was a bronze in Tokyo in 2008 despite competing in four Olympic games.
- Spain’s Alcaraz, 21, on the other hand, was competing in his first Olympics and looking to add to his growing collection of wins, which include wins at the Madrid Open, US Open and Wimbledon.
- Sunday’s match made Olympic history in multiple ways: Alcaraz became the youngest man since 1988 to be in the men’s singles finals, while Djokovic became the oldest player in history to reach a tennis singles final, according to NBC.
Tangent
Djokovic and Alcaraz were the world’s first- and second-highest paid tennis players, respectively, last year. Forbes estimated Djokovic made $38.4 million from August 2022 to 2023, while Alcaraz made $31.4 million over the same period. Both athletes made the majority of their money off the court: Djokovic drew in about $25 million from deals with Asics, Lacoste, Waterdrop beverages and more, and about $20 million of Alcaraz’ earnings came off the court through sponsorships with the likes of Louis Vuitton and Calvin Klein.
Key Background
While Djokovic was the No. 1 seed in Paris, there were concerns about his knee injury that led him to withdraw from the French Open and get surgery in June. On Thursday after he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals, the Serbian tennis star said he was “very worried” about his injury and didn’t know how it would impact him the rest of the games. Alcaraz was also playing with an injury in Paris after suffering a groin injury during his second round win last Monday. After the match, he said he had been dealing with the pain since Wimbledon in early July. Djokovic and Alcaraz had played just once at Paris’ Roland Garros before Sunday’s match, competing at the French Open in 2023 in a semifinal match that went to Djokovic.
Big Number
6. That’s how many times prior to Sunday’s match the two top players in the world had played. Of those, Djokovic has three wins and Alcaraz has three wins.
Surprising Fact
To get to the gold, Djokovic beat Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who is often hailed as one the best tennis players in the world—though was not seeded in Paris—alongside Djokovic and Roger Federer. Djokovic dominated Nadal 6-1 and 6-4 earlier this week, though Nadal still leads 8-3 when the pair has played at Roland Garros.
