The gold medal matchup for the boys’s singles tennis bracket on the 2024 Paris Olympics is now set: prime seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia will face the second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz of Spain.
Within the first semifinal, Alcaraz took down No. 13 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada. Within the second, Djokovic dispatched No. 11 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, setting the 2 prime seeds on yet one more collision course in a significant closing. That additionally implies that Auger-Aliassime and Musetti will face one another within the bronze medal matchup.
Alcaraz and Djokovic have confronted one another six instances, with the pair splitting the conferences 3-3. They’ve performed one another twice on clay courts, and cut up these conferences as properly. Alcaraz is having an even bigger 2024, and likewise bested Djokovic within the finals at Wimbledon simply this yr. Djokovic’s final win over Alcaraz got here in November 2023 in Turin.
Whereas Auger-Aliassime has been constantly among the many prime 20 gamers, few anticipated him within the semifinal — he has solely made it to the semifinal of a single Grand Slam, the 2021 US Open. Alcaraz wasted no time in getting by way of his opponent on Friday, profitable in straight units, 6-1, 6-1. Alcaraz transformed on 88 % of his second serve makes an attempt, and transformed on 5 of 9 break factors in his dominant victory.
Alcaraz has usually been thought of the favourite to win, particularly when prime gamers like Jannik Sinner (damage), Casper Ruud, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev all fell by the tip of the quarterfinals. Each Ruud and Medvedev got here up in opposition to Auger-Aliassime and each fell, although Ruud pushed him to 3 units.
All of that has labored out properly for Alcaraz, who downed Tommy Paul, the ultimate remaining American, within the quarterfinals earlier than cruising previous Auger-Aliassime. He’s additionally using a ton of momentum from having received the French Open title on these very clay courts at Roland Garros in June. After that, he took his second consecutive title at Wimbledon, and likewise bested Djokovic within the course of. He’s the person to beat, even when he’s not the highest seed, as has been the case all match.
Djokovic got here into the match with out an Olympic gold medal to his identify. The 37-year-old Serb has extra Grand Slam singles titles to his identify than anyone else with 24, and has received on the clay of Roland Garros thrice, most just lately in 2023. He’s handled accidents and hasn’t taken any of the Grand Slams in 2024, the primary time since 2017 that has occurred.
Musetti, 22, was a shock semifinalist after dispatching the defending 2020 Olympics champion in Zverev. Going into the Olympics, Musetti was ranked sixteenth on this planet, and was coming off his greatest exhibiting in a Grand Slam up to now: a semifinals look at Wimbledon.
He pushed Djokovic of their assembly, with each gamers scoring a number of breaks within the second set, however in the end he was unable to seal the deal and fell in straight units, 6-4, 6-2.
Musetti and Auger-Aliassime will play within the bronze medal match on Saturday, earlier than the ladies’s singles gold medal match between Zheng Qinwen and Donna Vekic. Then the boys’s gold match between Djokovic and Alcaraz is ready for Sunday.
Males’s singles medal matchups on the 2024 Olympics
Bronze medal: No. 11 Lorenzo Musetti vs. No. 13 Felix Auger-Aliassime
Gold medal: No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz
