Novak Djokovic desires that Carlos Alcaraz never stop grinning. After their dramatic gold medal match at the Paris Olympics, the Serb gave the Spaniard a touching letter on Monday.
A good follow-up to the pair’s previous best-of-three-set encounter in a final, which lasted three hours and forty-nine minutes and was won by Djokovic 5-7, 7-6(7), 7-6(4), in Cincinnati last summer, was the two-tiebreak contest, which lasted almost three hours.
Alcaraz was open about what it meant to him not to win the top prize after the match, saying, among other things, “I feel like I let the Spanish people down.” They seemed to have been anticipating the gold medal.
Later on, he added, “I’m going to leave the court with my head pretty high. I’m terribly disappointed.” “I fought for Spain with everything I had. I am proud of the way I played today since it meant everything to me.
However, Djokovic urged the 21-year-old to see the bright side of things. The 24-time major winner called their encounter “awesome” and compared their already-iconic rivalry to the famed rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona, Alcaraz’s favourite football team, in a post on X, formerly Twitter. He concluded by giving the gifted child some words of wisdom regarding his future.
“You definitely have 20 more Olympics ahead of you, considering your age, your energy, and the way you play,” Djokovic wrote. “Your wealth will materialise. Until then, my friend.”
Although Spain’s two most illustrious teams have a more than a century-long head-to-head history, Alcaraz and Djokovic have amassed their own legend in a far shorter amount of time since their first encounter, which occurred little over two years ago. Three weeks have passed since Djokovic’s commanding victory over Alcaraz to win Wimbledon. Although Djokovic never trailed in the match on Sunday, he remained firmly in the present.
He told the reporters, “The only time I genuinely thought I could win the match was when the last shot went past him.” “I mean, I knew I could win, but it’s hard for me to win because he keeps coming back. I have to give it my all when he asks me to play tennis.”
Djokovic was better able to relate to Alcaraz’s post-match feelings than most because he had missed the opportunity to win the gold medal for his nation at the previous three Olympics.
“It’s my pride to play for Serbia,” Djokovic said. “I know Carlos and Rafa [Nadal], they love to play for Spain. Andy [Murray] loved to play for Great Britain. Roger [Federer] for Switzerland. Alex Zverev won in Tokyo for Germany. You saw the reactions of all these guys when they win. It’s something special.”
“I put my heart, my soul, my body, my family, my everything on the line to win Olympic gold at age 37,” he added. “I finally did it.”
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