Novak Djokovic sets Wimbledon final rematch with Carlos Alcaraz in Paris Olympics gold medal battle, moves one win away from elusive Olympic glory

Novak Djokovic has booked a rematch of the 2024 Wimbledon final with Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the Paris Olympics, where he will look to win his maiden Olympic gold medal. At Wimbledon, it was Alcaraz who prevailed, beating the Serb in straight sets to win his second at the tournament and his fourth Grand Slam overall.

Djokovic took on Lorenzo Musetti in the semifinals on Friday. He came into the clash under a cloud of doubt, as he was spotted visibly in pain during his quarterfinal win against Stefanos Tsitsipas earlier.

"I am very worried, to be honest. I don’t know what to say. The pain was very strong for two games after it happened. I don’t know if I slipped or what happened. It resembled Roland Garros, where I managed to close out the match, only to find out that the injury was serious. I pray to God for everything to be OK," Djokovic had said at his press conference afterwards.

Regardless, he took the court against the Italian and appeared close to his best. Despite moments of uncharacteristic errors from the 24-time Grand Slam champion, he took the opening set with a final break of serve, winning 6-4.

In the second set, he lost his first service game to go 0-1 behind, but immediately earned the break back. The same happened again, with Djokovic losing serve to fall behind at 1-2 but then quickly restoring parity. After that, the World No. 2 did not look back, storming past Musetti with two straight breaks of serve to seal the set 6-2 in his favor.

Novak Djokovic is tied 3-3 with Carlos Alcaraz ahead of the Paris Olympics final

Novak Djokovic will come into his maiden Olympics final against Carlos Alcaraz with a 3-3 head-to-head record against the Spaniard. While Alcaraz won their most recent match at Wimbledon, Djokovic prevailed the previous two times, including their meeting at the French Open in 2023 in the same Court Philippe-Chartrier they will be playing on Sunday.

Speaking to press after the loss to Alcaraz, Djokovic expressed his admiration for the youngster, stating that he felt far inferior compared to him on the court at SW19.

"He was the better player from the beginning until the end. You can always analyse the match, of course, and say I could have done this or that."

"Just overall the way I felt on the court today against him, I was inferior on the court. That's it. He was a better player. He played every single shot better than I did," Djokovic said.

Djokovic is looking to complete the Career Golden Slam at Paris -- winning all four Slams plus the Olympic gold medal.