The USA arguably had one of its greatest-ever basketball teams in the Olympics 2024 featuring the likes of LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant and they came home with the gold medal from Paris. Tennis legend Novak Djokovic congratulated the crowd present at the Arthur Ashe Stadium for that win but also shed light on the scare that his country, Serbia gave them in the semifinals.
Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic led the Serbian team to a 17-point lead in the 2nd quarter and held on to a 13-point lead, entering the final period of the clash. Despite the lead, LeBron James and co. recorded an close 95-91 win.
Djokovic cleverly used that match to connect with the crowd and left many in splits.
“I want to congratulate the United States for gold medal. But you guys were very lucky in the semifinals against Serbia. You should have lost. We had you guys on the ropes – plus 13 (points) entering the last quarter and then, well, the Dream Team showed why they’re the Dream Team,” Djoko said.
Nikola Jokic and the Serbian national team did have a podium finish, defeating world champions Germany in the bronze medal match. Hence, the 24-time Grand Slam winner revealed being proud of the Serbian basketball team for winning their second medal at the Olympics since 2000.
“We are very proud of our basketball team. We always are, they’re amazing. Actually, it’s the number one sport of our country… We were very, very happy with that,” Djokovic concluded.
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The basketball team wasn’t the only contingent to make the European country proud. Nole also had a successful trip to France, finally winning the highly-anticipated gold medal too.
Despite being the player with the most Grand Slams, Novak Djokovic was always criticized for not having an Olympic gold medal. He managed to silence these naysayers with a dominant display at the Paris Games.
Nole defeated Matthew Ebden, Rafael Nadal, Dominik Koepfer, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Lorenzo Musetti, and Carlos Alcaraz, without even dropping a single set.
The gold medal win has fans even believing that Djoko has now “completed” tennis. Hopefully, he can carry the same form in New York and win a 25th Grand Slam at the US Open 2024.
