On This Day in 2024: When Novak Djokovic completed tennis with Olympic Gold

Novak Djokovic became the oldest Olympic tennis champion with his first gold medal at the Games in 2024.

For Novak Djokovic, Olympic gold was the only missing piece in an all-time great career. That changed exactly one year ago, on August 4, 2024, when the 24-time Grand Slam champion stood on the podium with gold around his neck at the Paris Olympics.

The absence of an Olympic gold had long frustrated the man who holds the all-time Grand Slam record. But Paris changed everything making Djokovic only the third man — after Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal — to complete the Career Golden Slam.

On the Philippe Chatrier court, the Serbian legend faced Spanish young sensation Carlos Alcaraz in the gold medal match. There, Djokovic first sealed the first set 7-6(3), then repeated the same in second, claiming a 7–6(3), 7–6(2) victory to capture the most elusive title of his career.

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The 38-year-old had only one Olympic medal before his victorious run at Paris—a bronze from the 2008 Beijing Games. Since then, Olympic glory had slipped through his fingers time and again.

In London 2012, he lost the bronze medal match to Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro. In Rio 2016, heartbreak struck unexpectedly early as Djokovic was knocked out in the first round again by del Potro. That defeat hurt even more as it marked his first loss in the opening round of a tournament since 2009. 

Then in Tokyo 2021, he came close but fell short once more, losing a tough bronze medal match to Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta.

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At the Paris Olympics, held on the same clay courts of Roland Garros where he’s claimed three Grand Slam titles, Novak Djokovic made history in more ways than one.

The final was a generational showdown, with Djokovic as the oldest Olympic tennis finalist and Alcaraz as the youngest ever.

With the win, Djokovic not only became the oldest Olympic champion in tennis history but also achieved the Career Golden Slam, and became the first and only player to win all of the sport’s highest titles in singles.

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