Lead
At 20 o'clock Beijing time on August 4, the men's singles final of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games officially kicked off at Roland Garros, the mecca of tennis in France, and the top seed, Serbia's Novak Djokovic, ushered in the first chance to compete for the Olympic gold medal in his career.
After a two-set tie-break, Djokovic defeated second seed Spain's Alcaraz 2-0 to claim his first Olympic men's singles gold medal.
However, this is not the first Grand Slam gold medal of Djokovic's career, or even his first gold medal at the Olympics, so how can Djokovic bridge the gap between Olympic gold medals and gold medals in major Grand Slam tournaments and become one of the "Golden Slams"?
What is a Golden Slam.
The so-called "Golden Slam" is actually the honor of winning gold medals in the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open) and the Olympic Games.
But there are two main reasons why the Golden Slam is so precious, one is the identity of the Olympics, and the other is what makes the Olympics special.
The Olympic Games are one of the most authoritative and influential events in the world for their characteristics such as "the world's top international stage" and "the oldest world-class event", and every athlete can represent their motherland in the Olympic Games is one of the luckiest and most difficult things in life.
At the same time, the Olympics are held every four years, which means that there is a limit to the number of gold medals that can be won at the Olympics, and players must take advantage of the very limited number of opportunities to complete the Golden Slam.
The four Grand Slam tournaments are also very authoritative tournaments, but they are irreplaceable because they are held once a year, which means that players still have plenty of time to adjust and prepare while waiting for their next opportunity.
But at the Olympics, once a player loses the current opportunity, it may take four or even eight years to get a new opportunity, so every opportunity in the Olympics is a rare opportunity in the athlete's career.
In addition, as a world-class comprehensive event, the competition in the Olympic Games is very fierce, unlike the Grand Slam events, where some players give unsatisfactory performances in the competition because they are not familiar with regional customs, time differences, time rules, etc., and are even excluded from the championship competition to a certain extent.
In the Olympic Games, the overall state of the athletes from all countries will be the best, and the players will show the best competitive state in every game in the Olympic Games, bringing countless wonderful moments to the Olympic Games, which means that if you want to win the gold medal in the Olympic Games, the athletes need to have a super high comprehensive strength.
At the same time, the number of events at the Olympics is smaller than that of Grand Slam events, so each event will become more precious, and players will face more opponents of similar strength and will have to do their best to win the gold medal.
As one of the legends of tennis, Djokovic inevitably competed against these very competitive opponents, but he still won the match again and again.
The great King of Golden Slams.
So far, only five men and four women have completed the Golden Slam in professional tennis: George Barnes, Australia legend Rod Laver, French Open king Agassi, United States legend Bill Schulman and current Spain women's tennis star Navarro, France women's tennis star Maiore Bay, Germany legend Stephanie Graf and Serena Williams sisters.
Each of these Golden Slam players has their own unique characteristics, and their success is also the motivation for many people's hard work, and Djokovic has successfully made it to the Golden Slam with his own hard work and strength.
As one of the legends of modern tennis, Djokovic's results in Grand Slam tournaments and the Olympic Games are very impressive, especially in Grand Slam tournaments, Djokovic's results can be described as "shocking".
Djokovic has been a rising star in tennis since his inception in 2005 and has since built his own legend over the years.
At the 2011 Australian Open, Djokovic won his second career Grand Slam title with a 6-4 6-2 6-3 victory over United Kingdom's Murray in the final.
In 2016, Djokovic won his first French Open Gold Cup at the French Open, and in the process, he also completed his own minor Grand Slam achievement, becoming only the fourth male player to complete a minor Grand Slam after Rod Laver, Le Pen and Agassi.
Since then, Djokovic has also won his second Wimbledon title at Wimbledon, and finally won his third US Open Gold Cup at this year's US Open, completing the Grand Slam of his career to fulfill his promise.
At the Olympics, Djokovic finished fourth in the men's singles at London 2012, and although he did not win a medal, the fourth place gold medal was significant, because he completed his "Beijing Grand Slam" with this fourth place gold medal.
This "Beijing Grand Slam" means that Djokovic has won different gold medals at the Olympics and in the four Grand Slam tournaments, which is also a very rare achievement in tennis.
A manifestation of a champion mentality.
It's no secret that the Olympics are of no age, and both young and experienced players can excel in the Olympics, and even tennis legends like Novak Djokovic have competed at the Olympics at the start of their careers.
In 2008, Djokovic's prowess at the Beijing Olympics gave a glimpse into the future of his career.
At that time, Djokovic was only 21 years old at the Beijing Olympics, but he won the fifth place in the men's singles with his strong strength and good mental quality, which is already very impressive for a newcomer who has just entered his career.
At London 2012, Djokovic also continued his good form at the Beijing Olympics, finishing fourth in the men's singles at the London Olympics, second only to United Kingdom's Murray, barely missing out on a medal with the winning Murray, but this is undoubtedly an important accumulation of Djokovic's career.
Djokovic also achieved good results in the subsequent Olympic Games, but he never had the hope of winning an Olympic medal until Tokyo 2021, when Djokovic finally got his wish and defeated Kachenov 2-0 to win the first Olympic gold medal of his career.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Djokovic once again tried his best at the Olympics, and finally won the Olympic men's singles gold medal after the tragedy in Australia, completing his "Paris Grand Slam".
epilogue
Tennis has a wide influence all over the world, and countless people are attracted by the excitement of tennis matches, and countless people are enjoying the excitement of tennis matches.
The emergence of Golden Slam players has undoubtedly added more glory and legend to tennis, and their successful experience has also become a model for many people to follow, whether it is a current tennis player or a junior who wants to enter a tennis career.
The success of the Golden Slam players is not only their individual achievement, but also the glory of the whole sport of tennis, because only when the whole of tennis grows can it bring more opportunities to more people.
With the continuous development of tennis, we also believe that there will be countless people standing on the top podium of the Olympic Games in the future, let us cheer for their success together!