Djokovic’s hand trembled as he was overcome with emotion from his straight sets victory over the 21-year-old Spaniard. Videos of the post-match scenes from the stands at Roland-Garros showed the Serb as emotional as you will ever see him, dropping to his knees, crying in the clay and giving his family a heartfelt embrace.
Facing a bitter rival, the intensity of the competition built up the emotions of both men throughout the contest. Nole had to earn every point of his 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) victory, which took nearly three hours to complete across two tiebreaks.
Some of the tears he shed likely represented revenge for failures past. Djokovic lost to eventual gold medal winners at the Olympics in Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Tokyo 2020. This was Alcaraz’s first Olympic Games, but he also held big wins over the Joker, including the 2023 and 2024 Wimbledon title matches.
It was an epic match deserving of deciding the golden champion for the next four years. The outpouring of emotion by Novak Djokovic was an image that will preserve the moment forever.
