Roland Garros will decide which story to tell today. An anthological record or a genius settling a debt? The young man who conquers the world or the master who closes the circle? It seems clear that Paris, given what has been seen in this week of competition, undoubtedly favors the first option. But of course, it will be the game that rules. If the ball falls on one side of the net, Carlos Alcaraz will dress as a hero, the man who will become the youngest men’s singles winner in Olympic tennis, crowned at 21 years, two months and 27 days. If it falls on the other, honors to Novak Djokovic, who at 37 will add to his majestic collection of 24 majors the only big game prey that he lacks, and which obsesses him, Olympic gold.
It will be around 2:00 p.m. when both players begin to get their shoes dirty from the sand of the Philippe Chatrier, just after the Spanish Sara Sorribes and Cristina Bucsa fight for bronze in the doubles against the Czechs Muchova and Noskova. Surely then the centre court will give its first verdict, the thumbs up for Alcaraz, heir to at least a part of the love given for so many years to Rafa Nadal. The Spanish couple dazzled the Paris crowd in their adventure together, and they were moved when the young man imitated the gestures of the king of Paris, the bearer of the torch. Thumbs down for Djokovic, and not only by antithesis, before Nadal, whom he eliminated in the second round, now for Alcaraz, his rival in the final. The Serbian has faced the fans pointing to his ear, in a gesture of defiance, and after finishing their matches he took out from under his shirt the chain around his neck that held an Orthodox cross. “Before being an athlete, I am a Christian,” said Nole, a man of religious roots, protesting the alleged blasphemy of the Last Supper at the opening ceremony. The Serbian Orthodox Church awarded him its highest honour for supporting Kosovo’s monasteries and in 2019 he donated money to prevent the closure of a church of his faith in Nice.
One titan grows and another fades. Alcaraz and Djokovic have faced each other on six occasions: 3-3. One victory for each on clay, and the only time they have faced each other at Roland Garros, the Serbian won in the 2023 semi-finals in four sets. The Murcian returned the blow in this year’s final at Wimbledon, 6-2, 6-2 and 7-6 (4). It was his second great peak of the season after Roland Garros, and if he also wins Olympic gold he will join Steffi Graf (1988) and Nadal (2008) as the only tennis players to link this brilliant triple.
Alcaraz is progressing in his career the way he plays, at full speed, and just as he swept aside Aliassime in the semi-finals by a double 6-1, he is collecting records of precocity, always at a thousand miles an hour. At 19 years old, he was the youngest number one in history, after winning the 2022 US Open (Nadal and Federer rose to the top at 22; Djokovic, at 24). At 21 years old, the Murcian has won four majors, and has not lost a single Grand Slam final: US Open 2022, Wimbledon 2023 and 2024 and Roland Garros 2024. With his springs, Nadal had three majors, Djokovic one and Federer was about to make his debut. And he is also overtaking his masters on the Olympic catwalk. In his debut at the Games in 2004, Nadal fell in the first round of the doubles alongside Carlos Moyà (he did not qualify for the singles), Djokovic won bronze in 2008 and Federer finished fourth in 2000. If he beats the Serbian today, Alcaraz will surpass the Swiss Marc Rosset, winner in Barcelona 92, as the youngest winner in the men’s category.
“People say that his game has things from Roger, Rafa and me. I agree. He has the best of the three. I have never played against someone like him,” Djokovic has said. “He will be one of the best in history, I have no doubt about it, if his body respects him,” Rafa Nadal said this week in Paris. The protagonist is aiming for the summit without any hesitation: “I am ambitious and my goal since the beginning of the year has been this gold. I have imagined it, I have thought about it and I have visualised it.” In the stands he will be accompanied by Juan Carlos Ferrero, his coach, who was due to arrive in Paris yesterday. His pupil has not lost a set and has travelled from less to more.
Djokovic is also knocking on the doors of Olympus. Olympic glory has eluded him since that third place in Beijing after losing the semi-finals against Nadal. In 2012, proud standard-bearer, he fell in the same station, against Andy Murray, and lost the bronze against Juan Martín del Potro. The Argentine also ousted him in 2016, this time on the first day. And again Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals and Pablo Carreño on the last step of the podium left him with honey on his lips in 2021.
Paris is probably the last chance for the man who has reached 37 Grand Slam finals. The Serbian has given up the doubles draw to concentrate on his solo bid. A page in the encyclopaedia also awaits him. If he beats Alcaraz, he will enter the Olympus at 37 years, two months and 10 days, and only the British Josiah Ritchie will surpass him as the oldest male tennis gold medallist, although that was at the 1908 Games, the fourth on the calendar. He will also join a legendary quartet as the only ones with the Big Four and Olympic gold: Rafa Nadal, Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams.
What story will Roland Garros tell today? A great story, for sure.
Glory to China Zheng
China’s Qingwen Zheng was crowned Olympic singles champion yesterday after beating Croatian Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in the final in 1h 45m. Zheng, aged 21, has achieved the greatest success of her career after being a finalist at the Australian Open. The gold medal in the men’s doubles was also decided yesterday, which went to Australians Matthew Ebden and John Peers, who beat Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram (the pair that eliminated Nadal and Alcaraz) 6-7(6), 7-6(1) and 10-8 in the super tie-break.
Today, in addition to the men’s final and the bronze medal match in the women’s doubles, with Sorribes and Bucsa on the court, there will also be the gold medal match in this category, between the Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini, and Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider, from the Neutral Individual Athletes team.
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