10 incredible things Novak Djokovic achieved by winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympics

Novak Djokovic achieved a lot with his hard-fought 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) victory over Carlos Alcaraz in the blockbuster gold medal match at the Paris Olympics on Sunday afternoon.

Here are just 10 of the things he accomplished:

It’s his first Olympic gold medal. It's been a long time since Djokovic did something for the first time, but this was one of them. He had won an Olympic medal before, capturing the bronze in Beijing in 2008, but this was his first time reaching the Olympic final, and he put on a gold medal performance.

He’s the third man ever to complete the Career Golden Slam. Andre Agassi was the first man to do it, when he won Roland Garros in 1999—having already won the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Rafael Nadal was the second man to do it, when he won the US Open in 2010—having won the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

He’s the fifth player ever, male or female, to complete the Career Golden Slam. In addition to Agassi and Nadal, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams have also done it on the women’s side, completing their sets by winning their Olympic gold medals—Graf in Seoul in 1988 and Serena in London in 2012.

He becomes the oldest player to win a gold medal in singles since tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988. At 37, he surpasses Serena, who was 30 when she won in London.

He’s the first man to win the gold medal in singles without dropping a set since tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988. He was pushed to three tie-breaks during the tournament, but won them all routinely—one during his 6-3, 7-6 (3) quarterfinal victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas, and then the two tie-breaks he won against Alcaraz in the gold medal match.

He becomes the second player ever to win all four Grand Slams, the ATP Finals AND Olympic gold. The first was Agassi, who won four Australian Opens (1995, 2000, 2001 and 2003), one Roland Garros (1999), one Wimbledon (1992), two US Opens (1994 and 1999), one ATP Finals (1990) and one Olympics (1996).

He becomes the first player ever to win all four Grand Slams, the ATP Finals, Olympic gold AND all nine Masters 1000 events. Let’s do this—he’s won 10 Australian Opens (2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023), three Roland Garroses (2016, 2021 and 2023), seven Wimbledons (2011, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022), four US Opens (2011, 2015, 2018 and 2023), seven ATP Finals titles (2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2022 and 2023), one Olympic gold medal (2024), Indian Wells five times (2008, 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016), Miami six times (2007, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016), Monte Carlo twice (2013 and 2015), Madrid three times (2011, 2016 and 2019), Rome six times (2008, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2020 and 2022), Canada four times (2007, 2011, 2012 and 2016), Shanghai four times (2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018) and Paris seven times (2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023). Phew.

This is the 19th year in a row that he’s won at least one tour-level title. He won his first career title in Amersfoort, Netherlands in 2006, and he hasn’t skipped a year since then.

This is his milestone 20th career clay-court title. He’s now won 20 or more titles on two different surfaces, having won 71 on hard courts, too. He also has eight career titles on grass.

And finally, it’s the 99th title of his career. He’s on the brink of becoming just the third man in the Open Era to hit triple-digit career titles—so far only Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103) have hit that incredible milestone.