BILL SIMONS
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In the first set of the Olympic’s Gold Medal match Carlos Alcaraz called on his easy power and imagination to gain eight first-set break points against Novak Djokovic. He the upper hand.
But today his foe was the GOAT. Then again, Novak had been enduring a very un-Djokovician year. Before July he hadn’t reached a final. Yes, just weeks after having knee surgery, he battled his way to the Wimbledon final. But once there he was humbled by his latest Spanish nemesis.
But, Novak is a man who won’t be denied. What other sportsman has such unwavering longevity, will and intensity? Serb Janko Tipsarevic claimed, “Novak’s greatness was not because he came from poverty.” Rather it came because, “He wants to be the best of all time and nobody else is willing to do whatever it takes…Nothing else satisfies his hunger. You saw this with Lebron, Kobe, Ronaldo and Muhammad Ali. If they are not the best, they want to commit suicide.”
Plus, Nole’s an unashamed patriot who’s said to be a mythological figure in Serbia. And what other gladiator is so fueled by padding his resume and smashing records? Phrases like, “Let it be” or “Whatever” are not in his vocabulary. But there’s been one gaping hole in his resume. In four previous Olympics he’d only left town with one bronze medal.
So, not surprisingly, in the first set, as Alcaraz unleashed a flurry of power groundies and gentle butterflies, Nole drew on his pinpoint serves and wicked geometric genius. His shots found the lines, his knowledge was deep, his savvy was a weapon.
Rennae Stubbs gushed: “I’m in awe. It’s ridiculous how they’re hitting the ball, how well they move, the depth on their shots. This is the best of the best, and they bring the best [out of] each other…You tell me tennis isn’t the greatest sport in the world!…This tennis is out of this galaxy…They have to hit not one, not two, but three perfect shots to win a point.”
In the first-set tiebreak, Nole tapped his well of resolve. He hit an inspired return, blasted a forehand laser, and hit a stab volley that gave him the tiebreak 7-3.
Novak’s meticulous craftsmanship, his viciously efficient serving and flawless groundies force foes to lunge and scramble. As Serena and Sharon Stone watched, Novak again showed us that at crunch time he’s rock solid. While, in the second-set tiebreak the 21-year-old blinked, the 37-year-old blasted a series of forehand winners to secure his 7-6(3), 7-6(2) win. He sobbed and trembled on the Roland Garros court and then ecstatically celebrated with his family and team. Novak, who joined Graf, Agassi, Nadal and Serena as the only players to have won all four Slams and Olympic gold, said his win “definitely stands out as the biggest achievement I’ve had because of all the circumsances.”
Sure, Novak still hasn’t surpassed Margaret Court’s seemingly unbreakable record of 24 Slams, and he’s still ten titles away from Jimmy Connors’s mark of 109 tourney wins. He told Eurosport, “I’m still in shock. I put my heart, my soul, my body, my family, my everything on the line…[and] I finally did it.”
So, he was asked, Is your puzzle now complete? He responded, “Yes…I’m always telling myself that I’m enough. Because I can be very self-critical…That’s one of my biggest internal battles…I feel like I haven’t done enough…So it’s a big lesson. I’m super grateful for the blessing of winning a historic gold medal for my country. To complete the Golden Slam. To complete all the records.”
He was asked, “Is it enough?” He replied, “I think so.”
No one has had more considerable foes than Nole: Roger, Rafa, Murray, Del Potro, Carlos and Sinner come to mind. But the Serb’s greatest foe is history. And today Nole scored a win for the ages.
A STUNNING CHINESE QUEEN PREVAILS IN PARIS: The Olympics shatters hearts, and it also inspires. As part of Zheng Qinwen’s historic run to become the first Asian tennis player to gain Gold, the rising star had been inspired by the trailblazer Li Na and Roger Federer. And she studied the Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang, who, like her, was 21 when he won China’s first track Gold medal at the 2004 Athens games. “If he can do it, I can do it,” Zheng reasoned.
Qinwen’s journey to victory was stunning, but not a shock. The Olympics has a long history of giving us surprise winners: Belinda Bencic, Monica Puig and Elena Dementieva. The statuesque Zheng, who reached the Aussie Open final and is now No. 7, has been on the cusp of stardom for a while.
Plus, she’s a tough competitor. After Emma Navarro lost to her in the third round in Paris, the American complained that Zheng’s play was cutthroat.
No kidding. En route to her Olympic gold, Qinwen had survived a match point against Navarro and scored an epic marathon win over the resurgent Angie Kerber. Then she brushed aside the daunting reality that in six matches against Iga Swiatek she’d always lost. But in the semis she broke Iga’s 25-match Roland Garros winning streak, downing the Pole, who many thought would waltz her way to gold, 6-2, 7-5.
In the final against Croatian Donna Vekic, who reached the Wimbledon semis and is No. 21, Zheng broke out early. Hitting deep and serving with power, she was aggressive, confident, calm, fleet and resilient. When she prevailed 6-2, 6-3 she fell flat on her back. Now Chinese tennis will rise again. Her triumph is the latest twist in the tumultuous history of the women’s game in her powerhouse nation.
TEARS AND FEUDS: There were plenty of spats at the Olympics. Danielle Collins ripped into Iga Swiatek, saying the Pole was insincere about caring about her heatstroke. And she complained that the water in courtside bottles wasn’t cold enough. For five minutes Coco Gauff let ‘er rip about a controversial call.
Emma Navarro told Zheng Qinwen that she didn’t respect her, explaining, ”She goes about things in a pretty cutthroat way. It makes for a locker room that doesn’t have a lot of camaraderie.” Zheng replied, “If she’s not happy…she can come and tell me. I’d like to correct it to become a better player and a better person.” Qinwen then added some shade, saying, “I will not consider it an attack, because she lost.”
THE KING WHO BECAME A VASSAL: Since Wimbledon 2022, when Rafa suffered a hip injury, things have been rugged for the Spaniard. Now No. 161, and on the brink of retirement, lately the King of Clay has been quite unkingly (if that’s a word). He lost to Alexander Zverev in the first round of the French Open and fell meekly to Djokovic early in the Olympics. Seeming slow, he looked rushed. Nole, committed and dominant, pinned Nadal in the corners.
Christopher Clarey noted, “It was painful to see the King of Clay getting demoted to a vassal…Novak bullied him and gave him a geometry lesson.” As Rafa, who’s won two gold medals, departed from Paris, all of tennis wondered just when this old beloved warrior will hang up his clay-stained sneakers.
THE SCRUB WHO GAINED GOLD: The popular Aussie mate Matthew Ebden didn’t need all the Olympic grief he was getting. As the Paris games began, a torrent of criticism came his way. When Novak Djokovic’s first-round foe pulled out, the tennis world asked, “Why was Ebden, a lowly, anonymous doubles specialist – who’s No. 3 in doubles but hasn’t played a singles match in two years, has never won a singles title and doesn’t even have a singles ranking – chosen to go out on court to face the GOAT? Why didn’t they choose a talented singles player who could test Nole?”
Novak crushed Ebden 6-0, 6-1. At one point during the beatdown, Ebden handed his racket to a fan – “Can you do better?” Tennis promptly howled in protest and called for reform. But the Aussie vet and his battle-tested partner John Peers had the last word.
Yes, their American foes in the men’s doubles final, Walnut Creek’s Rajeev Ram and Texan Austin Krajicek, had scored the glamor win of the Olympics, taking down Nadal and Alcaraz. And the Americans battled to a 7-6, 4-2 lead, just two games from gold.
But a quirky shanked lob winner by Peers and a glorious retrieval that seemed to come from Luxemburg changed everything. The Americans’ once sublime serving dipped, but Ebden’s and Peer’s volleys were Aussie solid. In a flash, the craggy duo grabbed the initiative and played on another plane than Plano’s Krajicek and California’s Ram.
Doubles aficionados know the importance of the mysterious magic of momentum, the ability to shrug off setbacks, and the power of focus. And, finally, Ebden was no longer a punching bag. With their 6-7(6-8), 7-6(7-1), 10-8 win, he and Peers, who are neighbors in Perth, claimed Australia’s first Olympic men’s doubles gold in 28 years. And that’s not too bad for a scrub.
DOUBLES KUDOS: Kudos to women’s doulbes winners Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini who won the women’s doubles and to: Taylor Fritz and his best friend Tommy Paul, who won the Bronze medal. BTW: he duo heaped praise on their coaches, the Bryan brothers. Tommy suggested, “You can’t learn enough from them.”
MURRAY’S LAST HURRAH: Sports historians claim the English runner Roger Bannister is the best record-breaker in sports history. In 1954 he shattered the four-minute mile barrier.
Hollywood bent it like Beckham and promptly turned the soccer player David Beckham into a household name.
But Andy Murray is the foremost British athlete in history. Yet since his heroic run to the 2016 Olympic title, things have been rather unfair for Andy, who was by far the best player of his era not named Nole, Rafa or Roger. For years he’s played with only one good hip. Still, at the Olympics in the first two rounds, he and Dan Evans fearlessly survived seven match points, and then they initiated a late-match surge against Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz.
The last point of Andy’s career wasn’t even on his own racket. When Evans hit a return long, Murray’s storied run at last came to an end. The fans chanted “Murray! Murray! Murray!” for the great man. They wanted more, but it was not to be.
THE FLAG BEARER WHO BORE A BURDEN: The Olympics began as a dream for Coco Gauff. With Lebron James she was America’s flag bearer, and she embraced the joyous camaraderie of the Olympic Village.
But she seemed to be bearing a burden. She lost in both the women’s and mixed doubles, and when facing Donna Vekic, she imploded over a call. Overwhelmed, the 20-year-old wept and pleaded in vain for five minutes, insisting, “I feel like I’m constantly getting cheated on in this game…It happened to Serena. It happened to me.”
HELLO EX-LOVERS WHEREVER YOU ARE: The twittersphere has been all abuzz about the many couples in tennis. But two ex-lovers, Katerina Sinikova and Tomas Machac, won the Olympic gold together. Katerina had also won the women’s doubles at the Tokyo Olympics with Barbora Krejcikova, this year’s French Open doubles with Coco, and the Wimbledon doubles with Taylor Townsend.
FORGET THE EIFFEL TOWER, FORGET THE LOUVRE: The irrepressible Mary Carillo joked, “There’s nothing to see in Paris. That’s the one negative about having the Olympics here.”
TORCH TALK: Nothing will top tennis’ role in the opening ceremony at the Tokyo Olympics – Naomi Osaka lit the torch. But it was sweet to see Rafa and Amelie Mauresmo carrying the torch. Plus, Coco Gauff was the first tennis player to be America’s flag bearer.
NADALCARAZ PIZZAZZ FIZZLES: The King and the Prince of Clay, Nadal and Alcaraz, were the intergenerational dream team that tennis was waiting for. Older brother Rafa guided the nervous Alcaraz until the 21-year-old came into his own. Then things proceeded nicely until the quarterfinals, when doubles specialists Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek gave them an unsparing dubs whipping as they turned Nadalcaraz aside 6-2, 6-4.
DANIIL DISTURBED: Many noted the curious problems Daniil Medvedev had with returning Sara Eranni’s modest serve. In particular, Jimmy Arias quipped, “You just have to hit a 6 mph serve short and you’re set.” Then Daniil seemed to justify his troubles, commenting, “Sometimes I can play doubles well. But, in principle, four people on the court disturbs me.”
