Novak Djokovic is, in different order, number 1 in the world, the top Grand Slams winner among men, with 23, and the only ATP tennis player to win at least three times in each of the four majors. At 36 years and 21 days old, the Serbian lifted his third Roland Garros trophy after beating Norway’s Casper Ruud without giving up sets, a trait that had not endowed any of his previous decisive triumphs in Paris, in 2016 and 2021.
In the logical and inescapable statistical comparison between the “big 3″, the certainty of having surpassed the 22 Grand Slams of Rafael Nadal and pulverized the 20 of Roger Federer gives Djokovic, the top winner in Masters 1000, another fundamental card, knowing that he also rules the head-to-head against both members: 30 to 29 the partial over the Spaniard, who stipulated his retirement for next year, and 27 to 23 the final against Roger, the biggest winner of titles among the three, with 103. Djokovic reached 94 and was 15 short of Jimmy Connors’ record.
The title won in Bois de Boulogne brings the Belgrade native closer to two concrete and immense possibilities for the second half of the year: winning the Grand Slam, that is, the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the United States Open in the same calendar year, and surpassing the 24 major tournaments won by Margaret Court between 1960 and 1973. The only formula that would guarantee both record feats would be the victory in both All England and Flushing Meadows, which this year will reopen its doors for him after the end of the COVID-19 restrictions.
So 2023 could lift him to a huge peak in tennis, 2024 holds another unprecedented challenge. If he were to win the Olympic gold medal, he would become the first tennis player to be crowned in all four Grand Slams, the ATP Finals, the nine current Masters 1000, the Davis Cup and the Olympic Games. Andre Agassi lacked Montecarlo and Madrid to complete the collection.
In order to achieve this, the bronze medalist in Beijing 2008 must once again be better than everyone else, again, in the brick dust of the Stade Roland Garros, although not in seven but in six games.
Since Barcelona 1992, tennis at the Games has not been played on clay. It will therefore be the first Olympic experience for the Serbian on a surface that had him 18 times as the best, far from 67 on fast courts. In addition to the possible threat of Carlos Alcaraz, the Serbian’s executioner in the Parisian semifinal and who described him as a “legend”, will be joined by Nadal’s potential last Olympic performance in his “house”, the one where he won 14 times.
The competition will take place between Saturday, July 28 and Sunday, August 4, 2024 and the final, like the most important clashes, will be held at the Philippe Chatrier stadium. The squad will be nourished by 64 players and there will be no direct qualification for the second round.
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