Novak Djokovic sets new record as he moves ahead of Roger Federer with latest Olympic milestones
Novak Djokovic notched up two more records with his latest victory at the Paris Games as he moved to within three victories of a coveted Olympic gold medal.
The tennis great defeated Germany’s Dominik Koepfer 7-5, 6-3 to secure his place in the quarter-final of 2024 edition of the tournament.
In the process he became the first player to reach the last-eight of the Olympics on four different occasions.
Djokovic – appearing in his fifth Olympics – shared the record with Roger Federer, Kei Nishikori and Aranxta Sanchez Victoria before the Paris Games while Angelique Kerber joined them on three after the German won her third-round match against Leylah Fernandez at Roland Garros.
But Djokovic is now out on his own at the front as he also reached the quarter-finals at Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Tokyo 2020.
He won bronze at the Beijing Games and that remains his only Olympic medal although he is now within touching distance of another piece of silverware for his country.
Olympic Tennis News
The 5 youngest men to win Olympic singles gold – as Carlos Alcaraz targets history
The 4 players to complete a career Golden Slam as Novak Djokovic seeks to join Rafael Nadal on list
“It is a great honour to represent my country at the Olympics. It is an incredible sporting event,” the 24-time Grand Slam winner.
“We play Roland Garros every year in this stadium but the crowd, the atmosphere, the colours, everything is different. In a good way. The Roland Garros crowd is very knowledgeable and passionate about tennis but the Olympic crowd is something different.
“People from all over the world come to support their athletes and I think there are so many different nations and nationalities and it is beautiful to see. We are all celebrating sport and I am glad to still stay in the tournament.”
Age Is Nothing But Number
Aged 37 years and two months, Djokovic also became the oldest quarter-finalist at the Olympics as he surpassed Jeremy Chardy of France. Chardy was 34 years and five months when he reached the last four at Tokyo 2020.
Djokovic was 34 years and two months when he made the quarters in Tokyo while Nishikori was the third oldest at 31 years and six months (Tokyo) with Federer 30 years and 11 months (London 2012).
Up next is Stefanos Tsitsipas and Djokovic has an incredible record against the Greek as he leads their head-to-head 11-2.
The Serbian has won their last 10 matches with Tsitsipas’ only wins coming at the 2018 Canadian Open and 2019 Shanghai Masters.
Djokovic is also 5-0 on clay against Tsitsipas with one of those wins coming in the 2021 French Open final when he was two sets to love down before winning 6-7 (6-9), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.