Day 9 features the gold medal match in men’s singles, with all medals to be decided in women’s doubles.
Sunday’s men’s singles gold medal match is an absolute blockbuster. The greatest men’s singles player of all-time, Novak Djokovic, vies for the one glaring omission from his CV, and the one thing that would mean more to him than any other achievement in his career: Olympic gold. But in a rematch of the championship match at Wimbledon just three weeks ago, Djokovic faces Carlos Alcaraz, who soundly defeated him in that final, and has definitively been the best male singles player of the past few months. Who will claim gold on Sunday?
Also on Day 9, both the gold medal and bronze medal matches in women’s doubles will be played, featuring the WTA’s best player of the last few months, Jasmine Paolini, trying to win gold for Italy after going 0-3 in recent Major finals.
Carlos Alcaraz during Friday’s semifinals (twitter.com.itftennis)
Novak Djokovic [SRB] (1) vs. Carlos Alcaraz [ESP] (2) – Not Before 2:00pm on Court Philippe-Chatrier
This is the dream final the tennis world was anticipating before this event began. They have split their six previous meetings, and are tied at 1-1 on clay. But their most important matches to date are undoubtedly the last two Wimbledon finals, which saw Alcaraz dethrone Djokovic last year in five sets, and then assert his dominance this year in three sets. They also played an epic final nearly a year ago in Cincinnati, where Novak saved match point to eventually prevail in a third-set tiebreak, after nearly four hours of play.
Carlitos was not the same player for the six months following that Cincy final, as he would not reach another final until March of this year. Yet at the last two Majors, the 21-year-old Spaniard reminded us of how good he is on big occasions, winning both Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Despite his best tennis often escaping him during those fortnights, he found his top gear when it mattered most. Alcaraz is now 4-0 in Major finals, and 15-4 in ATP finals overall.
The 2024 season has been an outlier in the illustrious career of Djokovic, as he’s battled injuries and failed to reach a final during the first six months of the year. Two months ago in Paris, he suffered a knee injury that required surgery. Miraculously, he somehow still managed to advance to the championship match at Wimbledon just a few weeks later. However, his lack of mobility was magnified by Alcaraz in that final, who took the first two sets 6-2, and the third in a tiebreak, to comfortably win his fourth Major.
And three weeks later, Novak’s knee is seemingly no better. During his quarterfinal on Thursday against Stefanos Tsitsipas, Djokovic reaggravated the injury, going down 4-0 in the second set, before the Greek allowed him back into it. Yet Novak did not appear to be significantly hampered by his knee during his semifinal victory on Friday over Lorenzo Musetti, so it’s unclear whether the injury will again be a significant factor on Sunday.
But one takeaway from Friday’s semifinal that will be a significant factor on Sunday is Novak’s temperament. Much like the medal rounds at the Tokyo Olympics, Djokovic was completely on edge, and unable to control several emotional outbursts. Winning gold at the Olympics for Serbia means so much to Novak that it appears to negatively impact his play. After going 0-4 in previous Olympic semifinals, can Djokovic relax a bit having finally reached the gold medal match for the first time? With an injured knee, and with Alcaraz on the other side of the net, I doubt it. When going for history of another kind at the 2021 US Open, in that case the elusive calendar-year Grand Slam, the Serbian faltered, and was overcome with emotion before the match even concluded.
Novak’s record in big matches across the past 10 years is unparalleled in the sport. Since the summer of 2014, he is 18-6 in Major finals, and 54-19 in ATP finals overall (as per Tennis Abstract). However, this is a different Djokovic in 2024, who in the past year has been surpassed by Alcaraz and Sinner as the best big match players in men’s singles. Carlitos has continually displayed confidence and composure well beyond his years on big stages, and he is the favorite to win gold on Sunday, denying Novak his last best chance at a gold medal.
Other Notable Matches on Sunday:
Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova [CZE] vs. Cristina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes Tormo [ESP] (8) – This is the bronze medal match in women’s doubles. The Czech team survived three deciding-set tiebreaks to reach the semifinals, where they lost to Errani and Paolini in straights. The Spaniards only required one deciding-set tiebreak leading into their semi, where they were thumped by Andreeva and Shnaider.
Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini this week in Paris (twitter.com/itftennis)
Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini [ITA] (3) vs. Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider [AIN] – Errani and Paolini were the runners-up in women’s doubles two months ago at this same venue, losing the French Open final to Coco Gauff and Katerina Siniakova. Andreeva and Shnaider are the surprise team of this discipline, as neither had achieved any notable success in doubles ahead of the past week, though they’ve won the last three rounds in straight sets, including an upset over defending gold medalists Krejcikova and Siniakova.
Sunday’s full Order of Play is here.
