Djokovic seeks the one tennis title he’s missing: Olympic champion

LESS THAN TWO hours after his devastating loss in the Wimbledon final, Novak Djokovic was already laser-focused on the rest of the season.

Djokovic, 37, had just been defeated by Carlos Alcaraz 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (4), his dreams for a record-breaking 25th major title postponed. But it was clear he was trying to move on as quickly as he could when he spoke to reporters at his news conference later that afternoon.

“Well, the Olympic Games and US Open are the two big goals for the rest of the year for me really,” Djokovic said. “I’m hoping I can be at my best [for] those two tournaments. That’s all I can say right now.”

Djokovic’s answer should hardly come as a surprise considering his virtually unparalleled career and that he’s the defending champion at the US Open. But he has never quite had the same success at the Olympics. He enters his fifth Games with just one medal — a singles bronze in 2008.

So now, two weeks after his disappointing finish at Wimbledon, Djokovic is back in Paris for what might be his final Games, with his eyes set on the one thing that has eluded him throughout his historic career: Olympic gold.

Djokovic opened play at Roland Garros on Saturday with a convincing 6-0, 6-1 victory over Matthew Ebden. He will next play familiar foe Rafael Nadal in the second round in hopes of getting one step closer to his dream.

“[It’s so special to be] part of the oldest sports event in the history of sport,” Djokovic told the International Tennis Federation in May. “Of course winning a gold medal or winning any medal for my country is a great wish and desire. It is one of [my] greatest priorities and goals for [this] season, there is no secret about that.”

THERE’S LITTLE ELSE Djokovic hasn’t achieved in tennis.

Since turning professional in 2003, Djokovic has won the Australian Open 10 times (the most by any player in the Open era), and is a seven-time Wimbledon champion, four-time US Open champion and three-time French Open champion. He is tied with Margaret Court for the most major singles titles in the sport’s history, and he has the most in the Open era.

Djokovic has won 98 career singles titles (and one in doubles) and has held the world No. 1 ranking for a combined 428 weeks — another record. Djokovic even led Serbia to its first and only Davis Cup title in Belgrade in 2010, something that he later called “the best feeling I ever had in my life as a tennis player.”

But while he’s always spoken about how…