Gregg Covers Sport

As bombs fell from the sky, one young boy learning his craft had to transform a disused swimming pool into his very own centre court. There was no need for any umpire to call time, the air raid sirens providing a more hostile noise than any crowd he would go on to face in his extraordinary career. 25 years later, on the bright orange clay at Rolland Garros, Novak Djokovic finally collected the last missing piece that had evaded him throughout his trophy-laden career, beating world number three and heir apparent Carlos Alcaraz to claim the Olympic gold medal.

Two months earlier, at the same venue, the Serbian had pulled out of the quarterfinals of the French Open with a knee injury that needed immediate surgery, and it seemed as though his dream of Olympic gold wouldn’t come to fruition. Alcaraz would go on to beat Germany’s Zverev to claim his third major title at the age of just 21, and the Spaniard came into the Gold Medal match full of confidence.

The match was played at a ferocious tempo, with each player going shot for shot throwing proverbial heavyweight punches across the net. Every now and again there would be the deft touch of an immaculate drop shot that showed both player’s class. Djokovic produced his best performance of the year, and played with a steely determination that this time he was not going to miss out on the one prize that had eluded him for all these years. It was that determination that saw him save all eight break points he faced in the first set, before capitalising on rare Alcaraz mistakes to win the first set via a tie-break.

That script repeated itself in the second set, with both players showing off their full repertoire of magnificent shots, alongside their resilience, recovery and mental fortitude as they each survived break points to again take it to a tie-break. Once again, Djokovic kept his composure, using all his experience to force Alcaraz into uncharacteristic errors, before sealing the title with a crushing forehand winner.

After he saw that winner fly past the despairing Alcaraz, the 36-year-0ld turned to his box behind him, a look of sheer disbelief painted across his face. He embraced his opponent, 15 years his junior, at the net, and then he fell to his knees in tears as the magnitude of what he had achieved hit him.

“Everything I felt in that moment when I won surpassed everything I thought or hoped that it would,” said Djokovic when he spoke to the BBC afterwards. “It definitely stands out as the biggest sporting achievement I have had.”        

Draped in a Serbian flag, a tearful Djokovic made his way up to his box, where he embraced his wife Jelena and their two children. His young daughter had held a sign up all game that simply read “Dad is the best”, and he now knows he has become just the fifth player to ever complete a ‘Golden Slam’ – winning all four majors and the Olympic gold medal.

With the Serbian flag raising, their national anthem ringing around Rolland Garros, there was a child-like beaming smile on the face of Djokovic, as the young boy who had practiced as bombs fell around him became the man who had finally completed the sport he loved.