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Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 6-4, 6-2 in the men's singles tennis semifinals at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, August 2, 2024. /CFP
Novak Djokovic's surgically repaired knee did not appear to slow him down as he finally reached a Summer Olympics singles final for the first time, defeating Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 6-4, 6-2 on Friday night.
Serbia's Djokovic will play Spain's Carlos Alcaraz for the gold medal on Sunday in a rematch of the Wimbledon final from three weeks ago.
Djokovic, 37, is the oldest man to advance to a men's singles final at the Olympics; Alcaraz, 21, is the youngest after dominating Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-1 in the other semifinal contest.
Djokovic came into his semifinal against Musetti with an 0-3 record in that stage at the Games, losing to the eventual champion each time: Rafael Nadal (Beijing), Andy Murray (London) and Alexander Zverev (Tokyo). Djokovic mentioned that "hurdle" repeatedly as a motivating factor in his run in the French capital.
Of equal concern for Djokovic heading into Friday night's match was his knee, in which he felt what he described as "sharp pain" while getting past Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals on Thursday. The Serbian tore the meniscus in the knee while playing at the French Open in early June, then underwent surgery in Paris.
However, Djokovic appeared to be just fine, instead bothered by things such as the chair umpire calling him for time violations twice and then warning him for an audible obscenity.
When it ended, Djokovic dropped to his back and stayed down on the court with his limbs spread for a few moments, knowing a long-awaited Olympic final would serve as the next challenge in his storied career.