It was not a regular season for the Serbian GOAT Novak Djokovic. He finished the 2024 season without a single Grand Slam title, but winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympics was, by his own admission, “the biggest sporting success” he ever had in his career. At 37, his Olympic glory came late when he beat rival Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2) in straight sets at Roland Garros, but it was extremely satisfying for Djokovic and it was evident the way he celebrated with his family in the aftermath . Four months have passed since then and the former US player Sam Querrey has now reflected on that match again.

Djokovic’s career achievements were still somewhat incomplete before the Paris Olympics, despite the fact that he had 24 Grand Slam titles in his kitty. Previously, he only managed to reach the Semi-Finals in the Olympics, including Beijing 2008, London 2012, and Tokyo 2020. He won the bronze medal by defeating James Blake in 2008, but lost the bronze medal matches to Juan Martín del Potro in 2012 and Pablo Carreño Busta in 2020 respectively. The Serbian also faced a setback at the 2016 Rio Olympics, crashing out in the opening round after being defeated by Juan Martín del Potro again in straight sets, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2). He later described it as ‘one of the toughest losses” of his life. However, Djokovic’s ‘Golden Slam’ achievement at the Paris Olympics brought an emotional reaction from the former American international.

On the ‘Nothing Major’ podcast that aired on 27th December, Sam Querrey talked about the Paris Olympics gold medal match and stated his admiration for Djokovic. “I am not an emotional guy, but when Djokovic won the gold medal, I was like, yeah, I am going to wipe one tear. That was like a very special moment. It made me like super happy for him. I think we all like him very nice guy, but it was like emotional for me. I was like super stoked for him and his career that he finally got there,” he said.

This was not the first time Sam spoke about Djokovic’s Olympic glory. He had praised him wholeheartedly on a previous ‘Nothing Major’ podcast as well, just after the Serbian won his gold medal. “This one meant the most to Djokovic. I didn’t cry when I got married or had my kids, but I was on the sofa the other day watching this with my wife. I wiped away a tiny tear watching Novak, and my wife was crying too. “I’m dead serious. In the last 15 years, I can’t think of a time [that I cried],” Querrey had said back then.

Although the Serbian secured Olympic gold, he ended the season without a major Grand Slam title for the first time since 2017. He came close to winning Wimbledon this year but fell short in the final after losing to Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets. However, the Olympic gold medal still earned him the plaudits. Serena Williams’ former coach Rennae Stubbs also joined the bandwagon and heaped praise on the Serbian maestro, but emphasized that the season as a whole was very dismal for the former World No.1.

‘Novak is really happy that he has got over Roger,’ Rennae Stubbs after Novak’s Olympic redemption

With a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, Djokovic achieved something that the Swiss maestro Roger Federer failed to do in his entire career. Federer won a gold medal in men’s doubles with Stan Wawrinka at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and secured a silver medal in singles at the 2012 London Olympics, where Andy Murray defeated him 6–2, 6–1, 6–4 in the final. But he never won an Olympic gold in singles, unlike his arch-rival Rafael Nadal who did it in 2008.

Shedding light on it on her podcast, Stubbs said, “He (Djokovic) joins an exclusive club of gold medal champions in singles because Rafa won in singles and doubles, Steffi of course did what we will probably never see [again] — winning all four Grand Slams and then winning a gold medal. But Novak joins Andre Agassi, the likes of these players. Roger Federer is not even on that list. Although Roger won a gold medal in doubles, he never did this in singles so that’s something that I am sure Novak is really happy that he has got over Roger.”

Stubbs, however, also pointed out that Djokovic couldn’t do justice to his talent and reputation in 2024. “Novak played 18 tournaments this year. That’s a lot. He played more than Medvedev, he played the same as Alcaraz and he actually played one more than Jannik Sinner. In actual fact that shows you, because you and I follow tennis a lot, in the fact that we didn’t play that much, that shows you – and I don’t want to say this because I know I am going to get haters – that just shows how bad a year he had for his standards. And his standards are not going anywhere, he is the greatest player of all time, so the fact he won one tournament this year and it was the Olympics was pretty shocking and he was in one final. That is crazy. And the fact he did play more than Sinner and you felt he didn’t play this year,” Stubbs added.

The Serbian played 18 tournaments this season, 1 more than Jannik Sinner, but did not win any major titles. His disappointing season includes a semi-final loss at the 2023 AO to Jannik Sinner, a loss to Luca Nardi in the Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells (R32), a 3rd round loss to Alexei Popyrin in the US Open and a defeat to Sinner in the finals of the Shanghai Masters.

Djokovic holds the record for most Grand Slam titles (24) to date with an astonishing 10 Australian Open titles. With the AO set to begin on January 12th, do you think Novak Djokovic can secure another Grand Slam title before retiring? Comment your thoughts below.