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Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic set to rematch in Paris Olympics final
By Bridget Reilly,
6 hours ago
A Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz showdown awaits in Paris.
On Friday morning, Alcaraz secured his spot for the Olympic men’s singles final after defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals. Hours later, Djokovic cruised past Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-2 to ensure the Wimbledon rematch.
Alcaraz, 21, could become the youngest man to win an Olympics tennis singles gold medal Sunday morning, as he is a month younger than American Vincent Richards was when he claimed the gold in Paris in 1924.
“I played at a very high level from the beginning to the end,” Alcaraz told Eurosport’s Alex Corretja on court, per Reuters . “One of my objectives at the beginning of the year was to win a gold medal and now we have this one match to try to get it and I am going to have fun.
“It was difficult for me,” Alcaraz said after the Wimbledon match. “I tried to stay calm. I tried to stay positive.”
Alcaraz owns four Grand Slam titles, including a recent victory on the same clay courts of Roland Garros that the Olympics are being competed on.
A rematch was not a foregone conclusion, though.
It wasn’t exactly clear how healthy Djokovic was after he endured a “sharp pain” in his surgically repaired right knee while fighting to defeat Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals Thursday.
However, against Musetti, there were no obvious signs of difficulty or hindered movement.
He underwent surgery to fix the torn meniscus in June after he was forced to withdraw from the French Open.
“I dug deep and found a way,” Djokovic said on Thursday, per ATP. “Really glad that I managed to win the match. I had a scare early in the second set with the knee, kind of a deja vu from what happened a few months ago at Roland Garros, where I injured myself in a match, managed to finish the match victorious, but only to find out the next day that I tore my meniscus.
“So I’m hoping that’s not the case this time. I don’t know. I’m honestly concerned, but I’m going to let the medical team evaluate the knee, do examination. Tomorrow night I think I’m playing a night match at seven, so I have some time to recover and get ready. Hopefully I’ll be able to be physically fit for the semis.”
In his semifinal match, Alcaraz never faced a break point and had the crowd at Court Philippe Chatrier rallied around him, waving Spanish flags and cheering “Vamos, Carlos!”
“I just couldn’t find a way to be comfortable in any pattern, any position. Whether it was trying to dominate the forehand cross-court or change of direction, the forehand inside-out, the backhand side,” Auger-Aliassime said after his loss. “Every aspect. The movement. The defense. I was dominated.”
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