Novak Djokovic has a brutal path to potential Olympic gold

Novak Djokovic has done a lot of great things during his tennis career, of course, but one goal he has never reached is winning Olympic gold. This is important for a lot of reasons, but one is that Djokovic is an absolute iconoclast of his country and he strives to make his nation proud. He will have done that with all the tennis success he has had, but maybe nothing beats Olympic gold.

Djokovic did claim bronze at the 2008 Olympics, but he finished fourth in 2012 and 2020 and lost in the first round in 2016. He has watched while rivals Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have both won gold. Even Roger Federer won silver in 2012. Among the Big 4, Djokovic has achieved less at the Olympics.

This has to stick with the Serb not only because he wants to do well for his country but as a competitor. This is very likely his last chance to win gold at the Olympics as he probably will not be playing in four years. If he is going to win the Olympics, this is the year.

Novak Djokovic could face Rafael Nadal in the second round at the Olympics

But his road to gold is anything but easy. The Olympic draw was released on Thursday and his path is brutal. The weird part is that after Jannik Sinner withdrew from the Olympics, which made Djokovic the top seed, this made it possibly more difficult for Djokovic to win gold. Sinner would have had Djoko's path to the final.

Djokovic will open against Australia's Matthew Ebden. The Serb should win that. This would potentially set up an all-time great second-round match against Nadal. The Spaniard opens against Marton Fucsovics, so Nadal likely has the tougher first-round match. The Hungarian has at least won two titles in his career on clay.

That last part is important because the Olympics will be held at the same venue as the French Open where Nadal has won 14 titles. Nadal did lose in the first round at Roland Garros this year, but that was likely only because he received one of the worst draws he could and had to play Alexander Zverev. The match was very close even though the German won in straight sets.

Speaking of Zverev, should Djokovic defeat Ebden and then Nadal or Fucsovics, he could then face Zverev. That would happen only if Djokovic defeats Stefanos Tsitsipas in a potential third-round matchup. The Serb might then have to face Taylor Fritz. This might all set up a final match between Djoko and Carlos Alcaraz.

If Novak Djokovic does win Olympic gold this year, he will have earned it. That said, he would probably prefer it that way.

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