Novak Djokovic's personal highlight of glorious tennis career speaks volumes about him
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Novak Djokovic has a record 24 Grand Slam singles wins to choose from when picking out his career highlight, but the tennis great insists none come close to his Olympic Gold medal win in Paris. The former world number one claimed his first Olympic medal back in 2008, winning bronze in Beijing, but had to wait another 16 years for gold. He lost to Andy Murray in the semis in London in 2012, and at the same stage against Alexander Zverev in Tokyo, with an early exit against Juan Martin del Potro in Rio in between.
That left him needing to do things the hard way. Carlos Alcaraz stood in the way in Paris last summer, and Djokovic - now 37 - needed two tie-breaks to get over the line. Speaking at the ASICS Tennis Summit in Melbourne, Djokovic reflected on that success. He's far from done when it comes to top tournaments, despite injuries in recent years interrupting his climb back up the rankings, but Olympic gold will live long in the memory.
"Probably the highlight of my career, what i experienced in Paris last year," Djokovic explains. "I've been lucky enough to achieve great things in this sport, but winning a gold medal for Serbia at the age of 37, it was probably the last best chance that I had to go for the gold.
"Under the circumstances also of having a surgery not long before then, then coming back and playing the finals at Wimbledon and really getting the highest possible motivation and inspiration for myself to represent my country and really have a shot at gold. It happened in almost a movie-like scenario for me, having my wife and my kids with me, and just incredible support, atmosphere, a lot of the Serbian olympic team athletes were out there present as well for the match.
