Djokovic Wins Gold, Finishes Tennis

running forehands — clutch tiebreakers — backhand mechanics

Novak Djokovic defeated Carlos Alcaraz 7/6 7/6 in the Olympic singles final on Sunday, securing the lone big title that had eluded him in his career. The Serb was back to his supreme best in Paris, finding the movement and consistency that was absent in the Wimbledon final three weeks ago. He now leads Alcaraz 4-3 in their highly entertaining H2H.

First Set

Both men signalled their intent in the first game. Djokovic went down-the-line off both wings early and was particularly keen to get Alcaraz running wide to his forehand side, earning two errors off such plays in his first service hold. This has been a recurrent weak point in the Spaniard’s freakishly complete game. However, from the AD court Alcaraz’s forehand is a dynamic bazooka, the racquet preparation also concealing a trademark drop shot that makes defending his set-piece forehand one of the toughest asks in the game. If you’ve read some other Alcaraz pieces here you have probably seen this return-of-serve graphic:¹

No one else in tennis can make this work like Alcaraz.

What I haven’t mentioned is how this has the inverse effect on the server’s court position. Notice how Djokovic has to move back this whole point, first from inside the baseline following his serve as Alcaraz rips his backhand return deep down the middle, forcing a back-foot forehand from Djokovic, who then retreats further as he realises Alcaraz is going to find a forehand from the baseline on his second shot. By the time Djokovic has moved on a backward V to hit his defensive squash forehand (which he missed), Alcaraz has taken the baseline.

This is Alcaraz’s wheelhouse play on clay. The more ad-court forehands he gets, the harder it is to beat him. But Nole has experience weathering Spanish forehands on clay. In fact, I would argue his forehand is at its best when countering crosscourt heat; it is a better shield than sword.

Plays like that earned Djokovic the first break point opportunity in Alcaraz’s opening service game. Cool as ever, Alcaraz played his first forehand drop shot of the match:

Note how Djokovic recovers with a split-step across and backwards as Carlos sets up for the forehand, the Serb anticipating the power to come. More on that here.

In the Spaniard’s next service game he again found himself in trouble, down 0-40 following this return from Djokovic.

Great return, but also a pretty poor serve from Alcaraz in terms of accuracy. It’s nowhere near the lines, and given how aggressive Djokovic was with his return position, the wide serve has to be better than that against the best returner of all-time. Given the Serb’s prowess when returning closer to the baseline, Alcaraz hit far more body serves than Djokovic in a bid to jam up the swing and earn a weak reply. In contrast, Djokovic would serve with incredible marksmanship to the corners throughout this match — especially in the second set — such that Alcaraz struggled to get balls in play, even from his much deeper return position.

However, Alcaraz would fend off those three breaks, courtesy of more inside-in forehands and aggressive backhands, but also an uncharacteristic missed backhand return from Djokovic. In fact, across 14 break points neither man would convert a single break for the match.

Djokovic has lost some big matches to younger foes in recent times: Alcaraz at Wimbledon in 2023 and 2024, and to Sinner in this year’s Australian Open semifinals. Often his backhand has let him down in these losses (remember the set point at 6-5 in the tie-breaker to go two sets up in last year’s Wimbledon final?). Today, I felt it was back to its subtle best, weathering heavy forehands and redirecting them with that inside-out fade:

Tennis marks that as a forehand winner. That’s just not right.

The above pattern was where the baseline battle was wrestled: Djokovic looking to pin Alcaraz with deep backhands, only offering running forehands as a concession; Alcaraz using that reverse-thrusting footwork to create ad-court forehands out of nowhere that he could torch both ways, sprinkling in leg-deadening touch shots for good measure.

The 4-4 game in the first set was dramatic and masterful from both. Djokovic was lacing forehands down-the-line with laser precision, but Alcaraz knifed them back using his end-range speed and racquet-work to generate five break points. Djokovic answered each time, showcasing the full array of skills that have helped him complete every quest professional tennis offers.

Returning at 6-5, Djokovic made a big push for the first set, but Alcaraz had the answers. This is a whole point of outrageous backhands from both, with Alcaraz leveraging that top hand to hook this backhand down the line from behind him.

Look how Djokovic takes every ball inside the baseline on the rise, stealing time, applying relentless pressure.

In the tie-breaker we also got a look at Alcaraz’s offensive backhand work, using more of that locked-wrist follow-through to punch this for an early crosscourt winner:

These are slow mo’s of the two prior Alcaraz backhand winners. You can see how differently the hands and arms work depending on the shot and location of contact. I don’t think there is another player who is as dynamic with their hands on the backhand as Carlos. On the left, the earlier contact and high hand finish that helps keep the racquet on the intended shot path of the crosscourt winner. On the right, the later contact and stretched position necessitates a strong left-hand hook to help square the strings into contact.

Alcaraz winners aside, Djokovic was sticking to a game style and strategy that has resulted in the most decorated career of all-time. It is not a game of hitting winners as much as it is of forcing errors and continually absorbing your opponent’s best shots. Djokovic missed one ball in that whole tie-breaker: a first-serve return of serve. Everything else comes back with relentless interest.

---

Second Set

I had been tracking how many winning plays and errors both players had hit with their forehands from the ad-court and deuce court. Djokovic had two ad-court forehand winning plays in the first set and zero misses. I had Alcaraz with 13 ad-court forehand winning plays for two misses.² I count this as an ad-court forehand winning play, even though that is just a ridiculous drop volley in its own right.

But the other half of the story occurs on the deuce/wide forehand. Again, I’ll mention that I take these statistics manually while watching/writing/recording other metrics, so I can’t be 100% accurate, but through 90 mins of that first set I only had two running forehand errors for Djokovic to Alcaraz’s six. Some of it is temperamental; Djokovic is severely disciplined, whereas Carlos at times tries to literally melt the tennis ball with power. Today Alcaraz was pretty decent on the running side in set 1, missing six times to break even on his errors/winning shots ratio (i.e., he won 6 points with the wide/running forehand as well).³ Overall, the forehand strategies and strengths/weaknesses of both can be partly reflected in the technical wrinkles of their swings and racquets. Alcaraz heavily inverts the racquet, lifting the elbow high to generate a lot of speed with a lighter stick. Djokovic uses a heavier club with a longer backswing before accelerating. The Serb’s is less dynamic from the set piece, lacking the injection of spin and power that Alcaraz possesses, but excels when redirecting speed, such as on return and when rushed to the forehand.

It was in the tie-breaker that just such a forehand came to the fore. The first occurred off the back of a pattern that was a microcosm of this entire match. Alcaraz, attacking and probing with the fearhand, Djokovic redirecting all that pace low and hard, until another inside-in forehand from the Spaniard looked to tip the point in his favour, before Djokovic threaded the needle with perfect timing and placement on the running crosscourt forehand:

The extended wrist, the longer take back. Quiet upper body mechanics while legs scissor on balance below. One of the most underrated running forehands of all-time.

The very next point it was another Herculean defensive effort from Djokovic to give him the mini-break, but Alcaraz won it back the very next point with another extended affair. It must be said that I thought the quality of ball-striking, movement, and tactical astuteness of both was very high for much of this match — right up there with their best stuff — with both men forcing the other to produce their best shots in the biggest moments.

But if there was one moment that was the moment, the singular shot that broke this match open, it was the Djokovic running forehand at 2-2 in the second-set tie-breaker. Off the back of a lung-busting and brutal exchange, Novak ran wide and slashed this:

Alcaraz had done mightily well to try and bully Djokovic with his forehand throughout, but this shot was a punch to the mouth; Alcaraz didn’t win another point.

On the first match point of asking it was a trademark deep return, followed by a not-so-trademark inside-in forehand from the Serb to secure a famous win:

Ultimately, this match was decided by two tie-breakers. There were 19 points in these two tie-breakers, and I must stress again how well both played. But this was vintage Djoker taking his opponent to deep waters and giving nothing. Of those 19 points, Djoker missed one first-serve return, and one running forehand. That’s it. But he also hit seven winners. That’s just outrageous considering the pressure of the moment. Alcaraz wasn’t too shabby, making six errors, missing one return, and hitting three winners. No doubt there were two or three points there where Alcaraz’s winners became Djokovic’s winners, courtesy of the latter’s impeccable defence.

“It was last year at the French Open, he [Djokovic] didn’t make a single unforced error in more than 50 points of tie-breaks. 2019 Wimbledon, three tie-breaks — you might recall that one — against Roger Federer. Didn’t make an unforced error in any of those tie-breaks. And hitting balls with interest, as well.”

— Olympic commentary during the second set tie-breaker

Djokovic’s serve numbers were much better in set 2, making 83% and winning 83%, and although he only hit 1 ace, there must have been at least 10 that went unreturned. We can also see that Alcaraz hit far more winners, but tennis doesn’t count forced errors, which is the specialty of Djokovic.

---

Press conference quotes

“I have to start by saying that I thought my level was really high. I’m really happy with my performance today. A little bit disappointed by not playing my best in some difficult situations — tiebreakers, for example — he [Djokovic] increased his level at the top and I couldn’t, so a bit sad when thinking of those moments, but I have to see everything in a different way, so I think I did a great tournament, I did a great match. I’m really proud of myself.”

— Alcaraz

Djokovic when asked if he felt his career was now complete:

“Yes and no. Yes it’s complete, because I completed all the achievements with this gold medal. No, because I love this sport. I don’t play it only to win the tournament. I play it because I really love competition. I love the drive of every day, every week, training my body, perfecting my game, improving my myself still at this age. This sport has given me so much, and I try to give back to the sport with my dedication and sacrifice that I put on the court every single day when nobody is watching. And I do it as hard as any young player out there in the world right now, I promise you that. I do it as hard and maybe even harder than anybody else, and so these successes are not coincidences. They come as a result of incredible effort from my side, and of course the people around me. So I don’t know about the future to be honest, I really want to be in the present moment and celebrate. It was a long journey and many many years of dreaming to be holding the gold medal, so now it’s about happiness, joy, and celebration.”

See you after Montreal. HC

1. Here, here, here

2. I count these manually so very possible I miss a couple with everything else I try and track/write about.

3. A part of me wished I also counted the wide forehand returns on the deuce side. As Alcaraz stands so deep, there were many that I felt he should have made/were comparable to a groundstroke forehand, but that he missed.