By Rory Carroll
(Reuters) – Having scaled his Mount Olympus this month to claim the Olympic gold medal that had eluded him, Novak Djokovic has nothing left to prove and can put more daylight between himself and his two historic rivals by winning another major at the U.S. Open.
The 37-year-old Serbia great fell to his knees and sobbed into the Parisian clay after beating young gun Carlos Alcaraz to complete the “Golden Slam” and put an exclamation mark on his already cemented status as the GOAT of men’s tennis.
Djokovic won his 24th Grand Slam title in New York last year to move two ahead of Spaniard Rafa Nadal, whose career is winding down and who will not compete at the year’s final major, and four clear of retired Swiss maestro Roger Feeder.
Djokovic, Nadal and Federer once comprised the Big Three that had a two-decade long stranglehold on the men’s game but the current world number two is last man standing this year.
“He’s looking to sort of separate himself from Federer and Nadal, that’s really is what it boils down to,” former world number one turned ESPN broadcaster John McEnroe told reporters.
“He seems to have already done that in a way. He’s won the Olympics, won everything, won more than those guys. To me, you’d have to ask him, but it (more success) is gravy. He sort of put himself there already.”
Djokovic’s Paris triumph was all the more impressive as it came two months after knee surgery and was against Alcaraz, the 21-year-old Spaniard who thrashed him in this year’s Wimbledon final in what felt like it might be a changing of the guard.
Djokovic got a hero’s welcome from the thousands on hand to greet him when he returned to Belgrade on Monday, and has called the Olympic title “the biggest sporting achievement I have had.”
The affection he felt in Serbia’s capital stands in contrast to the at times frosty reception he has received from tennis fans around the world who fell in love with Federer and Nadal before Djokovic came along and usurped his rivals.
“It was a fairy tale,” former world number one and ESPN commentator Chris Evert said of Djokovic striking gold in Paris.
“But you know what? I believe in karma. This guy has worked his butt off his whole life, put up with a lot from the press and from being kind of the bad guy with Federer and Nadal. He deserves it. He deserves it all.”
If four-times U.S. Open champion Djokovic can pull off the “Herculean” task of lifting a 25th Grand Slam trophy at Flushing Meadows, then what?
“I would allow him to retire after that,” Evert said to laughter from reporters. “I would say, ‘Okay, you have everybody in the world’s permission to retire’.”
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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