Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz to clash in blockbuster Olympic gold medal match on Sunday

Novak Djokovic has done just about everything there is to do in tennis—he’s won every Grand Slam tournament at least three times, every Masters 1000 event at least twice and the ATP Finals seven times. He's spent 428 career weeks at No. 1 on the ATP rankings, with eight year-end No. 1 finishes…

Those are all all-time records.

But there’s one big thing he hasn’t done yet, and that’s win an Olympic gold medal—and he’s now just a win away from that missing piece.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion reached the gold-medal match at the Paris Olympics on Friday night, rallying from a break down twice in the second set to defeat red-hot Italian Lorenzo Musetti, 6-4, 6-2.

It’s the incredible 140th final of his career. He’s 98-41 in his first 139.

Musetti had given Djokovic trouble in the past, beating him once before—on clay—at Monte Carlo last year, and he just pushed him to five sets earlier this year at Roland Garros. The Italian had also taken out world No. 4 and defending Olympic champion Alexander Zverev, 7-5, 7-5, in the quarterfinals.

But world No. 2 Djokovic was at another level.

After nine straight holds to start the match, Djokovic snuck out the first break in the last game of the first set. Musetti was serving at 4-5, 40-15, but Djokovic won four points in a row for a one-set lead.

Djokovic was twice down a break early in the second set, at 1-0 and 2-1, but he broke Musetti right back both times. From there, he ran away with the match, taking the last five games and closing it out after an hour and 50 minutes. He finished with more winners (18 to 12) and fewer unforced errors (23 to 27) than the Italian.

He then dropped to the court in celebration.

Awaiting Djokovic in the final is—who else?—Carlos Alcaraz, who won his semifinal earlier in the day against Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, 6-1, 6-1.

Djokovic and Alcaraz have split their six career meetings. They’re also tied on clay, 1-1, with Alcaraz winning in the semifinals of Madrid in 2022, and Djokovic winning in the semifinals of Roland Garros in 2023.

Alcaraz leads 2-1 in finals, winning the last two Wimbledon finals, while Djokovic prevailed in the Cincinnati final last summer.

And finally, Alcaraz won their only meeting this year, a 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory in the Wimbledon final just a few weeks ago.

Both will go for their first Olympic gold medal in Paris on Sunday.