Carlos Alcaraz, the 21-year-old who never lost a final in an important event to date, suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the singles final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic, whose dream of winning the Olympic gold medal was finally fulfilled, beat the Spaniard 7-6(3), 7-6(2) in a thrilling match.

Alcaraz's wins at the French Open and Wimbledon this season, made him the favorite to clinch the gold. The fact that he pulled off an easy victory over Djokovic in the Wimbledon final last month meant that the youngster had the upper hand.

Djokovic, who probably played his last Olympic match, was determined to give his best performance. After sealing the gold, he shed tears of joy, while Alcaraz cried uncontrollably as the sense of defeat sank in.

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Alcaraz however, held his head high as he ended his first Olympic campaign with a silver medal. He will have more chances to go for the gold in the next few editions of the quadrennial tournament.

'Grateful' Novak Djokovic feels his 'puzzle' is finally complete after winning gold at Paris Olympics

Novak Djokovic becomes the oldest player to win Olympic gold in tennis singles

Even though Novak Djokovic has not yet contemplated retirement, he is at the twilight of his career, and in a few years, he will join his two rivals Roger Federer and Andy Murray on the list of retired players. It was Djokovic's lifelong dream to win the Olympic gold and to retire without adding the medal to his trophy cabinet meant that he would continue to feel that he had not done enough in his career and would be 'very self-critical.'

But Djokovic, the man who is hungry for more and doesn't get the satisfaction with anything less than the victory, will finally breathe a sigh of relief. This season, in several interviews, he talked about winning the gold medal in the quadrennial event.

And knowing that the Paris Olympics may turn out to be his last meant he had to play like the 'old' Djokovic. Throughout the match, the 37-year-old played as if his 'life' depended on it. His poor form, the knee injury, and the major controversies around him this season were all forgotten as he switched to beast mode in front of whom Carlos Alcaraz had no answers.

Djokovic, who became the oldest player to reach the Olympic singles final earlier, is now the oldest to win the gold medal. He has now joined the elite list of players who have completed the career Golden Slam.

In case you missed!

• Alex Corretja is confident in Novak Djokovic's physical strength to overcome the upcoming Carlos Alcaraz challenge to win gold at the Paris Olympics
• Coach Juan Carlos Ferrero set to join Carlos Alcaraz to guide him during 2024 Paris Olympics final against Novak Djokovic

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Gouri Das is a cricket writer at FirstSportz. Despite always being a sporty kid, she disliked being inactive in one place for a long time to watch a match. But after the Ind vs Pak match of the 2016 Asia Cup, she rather got glued to the TV screen. That year she watched the major cricket tournaments, WWE matches, and the Olympics (especially Usain Bolt's races). After reading about the big names in tennis and becoming an ardent follower, she dreams of visiting Wimbledon one day.