Novak Djokovic was able to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2024 Paris Olympics to reach the medal rounds at the Olympic Games once again.
The Serbian player has never won a gold medal at the Olympic Games, and even though he has a bronze medal, as a 24-time major winner and arguably the greatest tennis player of all-time, he doesn't aspire to wins bronze medals.
Djokovic's sight is always at the top prize, and the same applies to the Olympic Games in Paris. In the first round, he outplayed doubles specialist Matthew Ebden, before also beating his rival Rafael Nadal in the second round.
The 37-year-old then showed signs of struggles against Dominik Koepfer, but that didn't stop him from a simple straight-sets win. The same applied also to his match against Tsitsipas, but there was a bigger issue in his match against the Greek, his health.
The two met on the very same court a few years ago, when they clashed in the 2021 French Open final. Back then, Djokovic needed to come back from a 0-2 deficit, which would mean a loss in this meeting, as the matches at the Olympics are played in a best-of-three format.
In the first set of the match, the Serbian looked like a man on a mission. He started with an early break to lead 3-1, and he kept dominating the rallies to keep the one-break advantage and even sometimes threatened on the return.
Ultimately, the score didn't change much, as Djokovic kept his one-break advantage, with no more break points on offer in the opening set of the match, which the more experienced player won 6-3.
But the second set was a set of the real concern for the gold medal contender. He fell behind very quickly, losing 0-3, and that was the time when he requested a physio to see his knee, which he recently had a surgery on.
It was a worrying sign, especially with his desired gold medal so close, but ultimately, Djokovic was able to continue in the match. Tsitsipas took advantage of the fact that his opponent didn't look to be at 100% physically, breaking once again to lead already 4-0 in the second set.
Against any other player, that would have been a sufficient lead, but not against Djokovic. He recovered one of the breaks to make it 1-4, then he saved three break points to make it 2-4, and when the Greek player was serving for the set, he saved three set points and broke again to make it 4-5.
Then, the 37-year-old held his serve, and ultimately, the second set was decided in a tie-break. With all the momentum on his side, the Olympic bronze medalist showed his experience in the tie-break.
He fell behind 0-2 early on, but it was a one-sided show from then, as he turned around the tie-break, like he did the second set, to win it 7-3 and win the match 6-3, 7-6(3) to reach the semi-finals of the 2024 Paris Olympics, which means he will play at least two more matches.
He reached the same stage also three years ago in Tokyo, before he lost the semi-final, as well as his bronze-medal match, ending his Olympic experience in fourth place.
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