A new showdown between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz could take place in Paris.
On Friday morning, Alcaraz defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals to advance to the men’s singles final.
At 21, Alcaraz could become the youngest man to win an Olympic gold medal in tennis singles on Sunday morning, just one month younger than America’s Vincent Richards, who won the gold medal in Paris in 1924.
A rematch with Djokovic would be possible if he wins Friday’s semifinal against Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, who Djokovic beat in the Wimbledon semifinals.
“I played at a very high level from start to finish,” Alcaraz told Eurosport’s Alex Corretja on court. From Reuters“One of my goals at the beginning of the year was to win a gold medal. Now I have this tournament left to get it, so I’m going to enjoy it.”
“It’s a very important moment for my team, my family and the Spanish people and I want to get on with business.”
Less than a month after the Spaniard displayed his youthful talent to beat Djokovic in England, a rematch at Wimbledon is on the line.
Alcaraz easily won the first two sets against Djokovic 6-2 on grass, proving the match was much easier for him than previous encounters.
But he stumbled in the third set and nearly conceded a comeback in the tiebreaker.
2024 Paris Olympics
“It was difficult for me,” Alcaraz, who has four Grand Slam titles including winning on clay at the French Open in June, said after Wimbledon. “I tried to stay calm. I tried to stay positive.”
But a rematch isn’t necessarily a done deal.
Djokovic felt a “sharp pain” in his surgically operated right knee during his quarter-final win over Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday, but it was unclear what his condition was.
He had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in June and was forced to withdraw before the quarterfinals at Roland Garros at the French Open.
“I tried my best and found a way,” Djokovic told the ATP on Thursday. “I’m really happy to win the match. I hurt my knee early in the second set and had a bit of deja vu, similar to what happened a few months ago at Roland Garros, where I got injured during the match, managed to win but found out the next day that I’d torn my meniscus.”
“So I hope that won’t happen this time. I don’t know. I’m honestly worried, but I’m going to have the medical team take a look at my knee and have it checked. I have a night match tomorrow night at 7pm so I have time to recover and prepare. Hopefully I’ll be fit for the semi-final.”
Alcaraz never faced a point break in the semifinals, and the crowd at Court Philippe Chatrier surrounded him, waving Spanish flags and cheering, “Go Carlos!”
“I just couldn’t find a way to settle in, in any pattern, in any position. I tried to dominate the forehand crosscourt, I tried to turn, I tried to dominate the forehand inside-out, the backhand side, I couldn’t do anything,” Auger-Aliassime said after the loss. “Everything. The movement. The defense. I was dominated.”
