Kafelnikov: “Olympic gold is as important as a Grand Slam title”
In an exclusive interview, the former world No 1 and 2000 Olympic gold medalist tells Tennis Majors that Novak Djokovic is among the best three athletes of all time
Prosport/Panoramic
If anyone can judge the importance of an Olympic gold medal in tennis, then it’s Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
The Russian won two Grand Slam singles titles – at Roland-Garros in 1996 and at the Australian Open in 1999 – and also won gold at the Olympics in Sydney in 2000, where he beat Tommy Haas in five sets in the final.
Along with the rest of the tennis world, and the sporting world, for that matter, Kafelnikov was glued to the TV on Sunday, watching the men’s singles final in Paris between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz. After an intense battle, Djokovic prevailed 7-6 (3) 7-6 (2) to claim the only piece of silverware that was missing from his resume.
“I think this was the best possible final under the circumstances for the whole Olympic tournament; Novak and Alcaraz – the greatest of all time against a player who can potentially challenge Djokovic’s, Nadal’s and Federer’s records,” Kalfelnikov told Tennis Majors. “It was the best scenario. We all knew that was the only thing missing in Novak’s career. The whole tournament was about whether he can finally do it on his potentially last opportunity. All the credit to his will and desire, he definitely deserved it.”
“The key was not letting Carlos dictate”
There were no service breaks in the final, but it was Djokovic – as he has done so many times before – who was more clutch in both tiebreaks.
“I think the key was not to let Carlos dictate the play,” he said. “Novak showed from the beginning that he’s ready to grind and to give everything he has just to win that gold. It was a big battle from the very first point, it came down to a few points which made the difference. I think the player who wanted to win more was victorious.“
It cannot be overstated how important the match on Sunday was for Djokovic, Kafelnikov said.
“I’ve said it before – Olympic gold is as important as a Grand Slam title. I tweeted the day before the match that this final was the most important match of Novak Djokovic’s career. I was absolutely sure about it. If Novak had lost on Sunday, he would have regretted it all his life. He won and proved my comments true afterwards. To be honest, it’s so funny seeing Novak’s fans on social media now – before, they were saying the Olympics were not important, but now they find it important, saying that it was necessary for him to win it.”
The greatest athlete of all time?
Writing on social media, tennis legend Chris Evert said Djokovic cemented his status as the GOAT of tennis. But another question emerges. Is he the greatest athlete of all time?
“There is no question whether Novak is the greatest of all time in tennis, that’s for sure,” Kafelnikov said. “Whether you can put him on the same level as Michael Jordan… I don’t, because I grew up idolising the greatest athlete of all time, which is Michael Jordan – all I wanted was to watch him play live. To me, he is always No 1, but Novak is definitely among the top three greatest athletes of all time, undoubtedly – all the accomplishments, records that he has broken, titles he has won…”
As to where Djokovic goes from here, it’s a question to which Kafelnikov does not have a definitive answer.
“Novak stayed motivated because he wanted to win the gold medal,” he said. “Right now, it’s going to be hard to find the motivation. He doesn’t need to prove to anybody that he is better than Federer and Nadal, that’s for sure. What next? I have no idea. If he wants to continue playing for the pure joy of playing, fair enough, nobody will criticise him for that. Again, he has accomplished everything, I don’t know how he can find the motivation to go further than he already has. That’s how I see it.”
Alcaraz will win many more titles
Alcaraz may have lost the Olympics final but he did bring home the silver medal, following an exceptional summer that saw him win the Channel Slam – Roland-Garros and Wimbledon., beating Djokovic in the latter, for the second year in a row.
“Like I said, Alcaraz has the game and attitude that can help him win a lot of Grand Slam titles, he has already proven that,” Kafelnikov said. “The question is whether he can stay healthy. If he stays injury-free, God knows what he can do. I am sure that he can win one or two Grand Slam titles per year. If he does so, he would challenge guys like Pete Sampras with 14 titles. And then he could potentially get to Federer, Nadal, even Djokovic perhaps, who knows? He is definitely great for tennis – fans love him, he has got good energy.”
