The tennis singles tournaments have been determined at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris with Novak Djokovic of Serbia winning the men’s draw and Qinwen Zheng of China winning the women’s draw. In the finals, Djokovic beat Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in the final, 7-6, 7-6. Zheng beat Wimbledon semifinalist Donna Vekic of Croatia in the final, 6-2, 6-3.
Zheng, who was the sixth seed in France for the Olympic Games, made headlines earlier this year when she made the final of the Australian Open. In Paris this past week, she had five notable wins. Zheng defeated 2012 French Open finalist Sara Errani of Italy 6-0, 6-0 in two bagel sets in the first round, defeated the 11th seed Emma Navarro of the United States 6-7, 7-6, 6-1 in round three, three-time major champion Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 in the quarterfinals, and a gigantic 6-2, 7-5 upset over world number one, Olympic bronze medalist and French Open specialist Iga Swiatek of Poland in the semifinals.
This was the second time China won the gold medal in tennis at the Olympic Games. The first came from Li Ting and Sun Tiantain in women’s doubles at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
Djokovic meanwhile accomplished the career golden slam (won all four majors and Olympic gold medal in his career). He follows Steffi Graf, Serena Williams, Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal as the players who accomplished that feat.
In Paris this past week, Djokovic had a memorable 6-1, 6-4 win over Rafael Nadal of Spain in the second round, a 6-3, 7-6 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in the quarterfinals, and then a 6-4, 6-2 win over bronze medalist Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in the semifinals. This was Djokovic’s second career Olympic medal. He previously won bronze at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
