Novak Djokovic has reached his first Olympic final after brushing aside Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals at the ongoing Paris Games on Friday, August 2. Fans were vocal in their appreciation for the Serb and critical of the younger generation of men’s tennis players, who, for the most part, are struggling to overcome the 37-year-old.
Djokovic entered his semifinal against Musetti with concerns about knee pain, which he had experienced during his quarterfinal win over Stefanos Tsitsipas. However, the 24-time Major winner moved freely once the semifinal began. Despite Musetti having a few chances to take control, Djokovic remained rock-solid when it mattered most.
The Serb will now compete for the gold medal in men’s singles against Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday, August 4. Alcaraz recently defeated Djokovic in the 2024 Wimbledon Championships final and is among the few younger players to have seriously challenged the aging Serb in recent years.
Following Djokovic’s decisive victory over 22-year-old Musetti, fans on X (formerly Twitter) shared their reactions. Many discussed how most of the World No. 2’s significantly younger rivals are struggling to achieve results against him.
“Man this generation can’t beat a 37 year old guy what they play for prize money ?because each time I see them I don’t see hunger in them,” a fan wrote.
“The amount of people absolutely furious that Novak Djokovic has reached the final of both the Olympics and Wimbledon while playing on one leg, back-flipping between points and juggling tennis rackets at the change of ends is very very very amusing to me,” another fan chimed in.
Another set of fans blatantly criticized Musetti, who was widely expected to test the Serb considering his bold display in the quarterfinals against Alexander Zverev.
“Musetti is pathetic. Never wanna see him near an important match again,” wrote a fan.
“Musetti didn’t hold serve once after he choked that 40-0 lead when he was 4-5 down in the first set. I don’t want to see this match up again. Musetti has no belief that he’ll beat Novak and in their matches he’s awful on the big points,” another fan commented.
“Musetti will remain and “almost achiever” if he continues to play this s**t,” yet another fan weighed in.