World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is another match closer to a calendar "Golden Slam" after winning his 67th consecutive outing. The twenty-time Grand Slam champion claimed his second match of the Tokyo Olympics on Monday, defeating Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff.
Djokovic won 6-4, 6-3 facing slightly more pressure than he did in his Round 1 win over Bolivia's Hugo Dellien. Djokovic hit 14 aces in the effort, including 11 in the first set and one on match point.
"I guess because I was playing against a big server, I kind of put extra attention on my serve," the 34-year-old said in a post-match interview.
Struff, 31, is currently ranked No. 48 in the world and reached a career-high rank of 29 in August 2020.
Djokovic, competing in his fourth Games for Serbia, is still looking for his first gold medal and will now face Spain's Alejandro Davidovich in the third round. He took bronze in 2008 and was knocked out by Juan Martin del Potro in both 2012 and in the first round in 2016.
Djokovic is vying to become the first male player to achieve a calendar Golden Slam — winning all four Grand Slams plus the Olympics in one year (Steffi Graf did it on the women's side in 1988). He won the Australian Open and French Open before Wimbledon early this month and would just need to win in Tokyo and at the U.S. Open later this summer to get it done.
