Novak Djokovic of Serbia, 34, has finished a career milestone that long eluded him as he bagged his very first-ever gold medal in tennis at the Olympics.

On Sunday, Djokovic of Serbia defeated Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz to finish among the sport’s legends as the fifth player ever to finish a career Golden Slam.

Djokovic, 37, won a thrilling final at Roland Garros on Sunday 7-6 [7/3], 7-6 [7/2]. It took him to 24 Grand Slam titles and he became the oldest singles champion since tennis’s return to the Olympic program in 1988.

The victory puts him in the distinguished company of Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Steffi Graf, and Serena Williams as the only players to have won all four Grand Slams and an Olympic singles gold.

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Alcaraz was looking for his shot at Olympic gold after an excellent summer that had seen him win both the French Open and Wimbledon; this tenacious display from Djokovic denied him.

He did celebrate quite emotionally, however. He held high the Serbian flag and shared a moment with his family in the player’s box.

We almost played three hours, the final shot was the only moment when I was sure I could win the match,” Djokovic said after a battle that must have tired him to the core, particularly as he had lost to Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final recently.

A clearly emotional Alcaraz could barely conceal disappointment in a post-match interview. “Three hours, a big battle with tough moments,” said the 21-year-old. “It’s very painful to lose.

In terms of both endurance and skill, both players did very well: neither gave up serve, with Djokovic saving a few break points to cruise through both tiebreaks and seal the win after two hours and 50 minutes of high-quality tennis.

In the other Olympic tennis news, Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti won the bronze medal after defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime to take his country’s first men’s tennis medal for a century.

Then there was the women’s doubles, where the Russians Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider could win gold but would not be registered as such in the official medals table like all Russian success as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.

Cristina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain won the bronze in the women’s doubles, finishing off a fairy-tale tournament run after defeating Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic.

Djokovic’s historic win adds another illustrious chapter to his career and makes him one of the all-time greats in tennis.