Roland Garros delivered a tournament for the ages

PARIS : Novak Djokovic on his knees sobbing tears of joy into the red Roland Garros clay after finally winning a gold medal will be the defining image of a magnificent Olympic tennis event.

The 37-year-old's win over Carlos Alcaraz was one of the best Olympic matches since the sport returned to the fold in 1988 and will be prominent in the Paris 2024 highlights reel.

It was a story for the ages, a man investing every last drop of sweat to achieve a career Golden Slam and one that surely renders arguments about tennis's place in the Games redundant.

"This kind of supersedes everything that I imagined," Djokovic said, describing his Olympic gold medal as his greatest sporting achievement.

While it was mission accomplished for the Serb great it was also a job well done by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) who delivered a sensational nine days of tennis.

Helped by an iconic venue, large and passionate crowds and too many story lines to shake a baguette at, it was hard to argue against the Paris tournament being the best yet.

The sight of Rafa Nadal playing quite possibly for the last time on the court on which he won 14 French Open titles was spine-tingling - especially his two victories alongside Spain's new golden boy Alcaraz. They could not deliver the doubles title but perhaps that was simply too much to ask for.

Three-time Grand Slam champion and two-time Olympic champion Andy Murray waved goodbye for a final time as he headed into retirement - and seemed happy for it to happen in Paris.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber of Germany also said her farewell to the sport in what felt like a cross-generational Olympic tournament.

Chinese sport has a new superstar in the form of 21-year-old Zheng Qinwen who