Djokovic, Alcaraz to play for men’s singles gold at the 2024 Olympics

Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will face each other for the 2024 Olympics tennis men’s singles gold medal after lopsided victories in the semifinals on Friday. (Paris Olympics 2024 Day 8 Live Updates)
Djokovic is 37, which makes him the oldest man to play in a Summer Games final. Alcaraz is 21, which makes him the youngest.
Djokovic defeated Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 6-4, 6-2 to get to his first Olympic final after entering the day 0-3 in semifinals at Summer Games.
Alcaraz was even more dominant during his 6-1, 6-1 victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada.
The final will be a rematch of the past two Wimbledon championships, both won by Alcaraz, including three weeks ago. He has four Grand Slam titles. Djokovic has 24.
“That’s going to be, obviously, the biggest challenge that I can have at the moment,” Djokovic said about taking on Alcaraz, who also won the French Open in June at Roland Garros, the same clay-court facility being used for these Olympics.
Djokovic got injured during the French Open, tearing the meniscus in his right knee and having surgery on June 5. He felt what he described as “sharp pain” while getting past Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals Thursday night, but he seemed fine against Musetti.
Djokovic went into that semifinal with an 0-3 record in that stage at the Games, losing to the eventual champion each time: Rafael Nadal (Beijing), Andy Murray (London) and Alexander Zverev (Tokyo). Djokovic mentioned that “hurdle” repeatedly the other day and again Friday night.
He acknowledged feeling nervy and seemed that way, bothered by things such as the wind or the footing or the chair umpire calling him twice for time violations and then warning him for an audible obscenity. Over and over, Djokovic would gesture at his team up in the stands, muttering or even yelling.
But his tennis was on point, other than when he got broken to begin the second set. Still, he quickly regrouped and took six of the last seven games.
When the match ended, Djokovic dropped to his back and stayed down on the court with his limbs spread for a few moments, relishing the chance in two days to win a gold for Serbia.
That’s about the only thing missing from his remarkable resume, which is filled with accomplishments such as 24 Grand Slam titles and more weeks ranked No. 1 than anyone else.
Djokovic has spoken often about how much it means to him to represent his country and how much he wishes he could do better than the bronze he picked up in 2008.
Alcaraz already owns four Grand Slam titles and is about a month younger than Vincent Richards of the U.S. was when he claimed the gold in Paris in 1924.
With dozens of spectators waving red-and-yellow Spanish flags at Court Philippe Chatrier or yelling “Vamos, Carlos!” on a cloudy afternoon — and a soundtrack provided during breaks in the action by a brass band in the stands — Alcaraz was superb against Auger-Aliassime.
He never faced a break point. He won the point on 10 of 11 trips to the net. He made just 13 unforced errors, 10 fewer than Auger-Aliassime, who also lost to Alcaraz at this year’s French Open.
“I just couldn’t find a way to be comfortable in any pattern, any position. Whether it was trying to dominate the forehand cross-court or change of direction, the forehand inside-out, the backhand side,” Auger-Aliassime said. “Every aspect. The movement. The defense. I was dominated.”
Later Friday, Auger-Aliassime went back on court and teamed with Gabriela Dabrowski to give Canada the bronze in mixed doubles with a 6-3, 7-6 (2) win over Demi Schuurs and Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands.
The women’s singles final is Saturday, with Zheng Qinwen of China playing against Donna Vekic of Croatia.
Iga Swiatek of Poland, who lost to Zheng in the semifinals, earned the bronze with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia on Friday. It’s Poland’s first tennis medal at any Olympics.
In the men’s doubles semifinals Friday, Matt Ebden and John Peers of Australia defeated Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul of the United States 7-5, 6-2. Ebden and Peers will go up against another American duo, fourth-seeded Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, for the gold.
In women’s doubles, the final will be Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini of Italy against Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider, a pair of Russians who are competing as Individual Neutral Athletes, known by the French acronym AIN.
Russia and Belarus were banned by the International Olympic Committee from team sports at the Paris Games because of the war in Ukraine that began in February 2022. Individual athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports were allowed to compete as neutrals if they qualified and then were approved for entry to the Olympics.
Andreeva and Shnaider beat Cristina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals; Errani and Paolini defeated Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2.