Mektic and Pavic clinch men's doubles gold for Croatia
Croatia’s best-ever performance in tennis at an Olympic Games ended with Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic clinching men’s doubles gold and Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig settling for silver – and both professing their prizes were a “dream come true”.
The top seeds and recent Wimbledon champions fended off a late rally from life-long friends Dodig and Cilic to win 6-4 3-6 [10-6] and achieve the perfect ending to their debut appearance at the Olympics.
“We are super happy to win the title and super happy to be at the Olympics for the first time,” said Mektic, who has now won a remarkable nine titles alongside Pavic since the pair joined forces as a team in January.
After three titles at ATP Masters 1000 level and a Wimbledon victory earlier this month, an Olympic triumph becomes the latest addition to their incredible year.
“To have such a great result is really more than a dream come true," Mektic continued. "We are delighted, and, me personally, I’m very happy to share this moment with Mate. We’re very good friends and everything is much nicer to share with a guy like him.”
Croatia had won even before a ball was struck in the men’s doubles final at Tokyo 2020. The contest itself was a glorious moment for the nation - which could celebrate a third gold medal in any sport at these Olympics to add to their Taekwondo and Rowing triumphs - not to mention for friendship, fair play and team spirit.
Cilic and Dodig, though coming agonisingly short of a gold medal, were a picture of pride on the podium during the medal ceremony, celebrating Pavic and Mektic's gold despite missing a good chance to claim it themselves.
Born into the same tiny town of Medjugorje, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and having climbed through the ranks together to win some of the biggest prizes in tennis, the pair were delighted to leave Tokyo with a silver medal, describing their achievement as the icing on the cake for their careers.
“We are extremely proud to hold this medal,” said Cilic, the 2014 US Open singles champion. “This is something that was missing in our trophy cabinet. Me and Ivan know each other from our early days, since we started tennis, so even to be here at the pinnacle of the sport, to play in a gold medal match at the Olympics, is a dream come true.
“It wasn’t our best day of the week, but we have to congratulate Nikola and Mate. We are still super proud, even though it’s a little bit of mixed emotions of being so close and not being able to hold the gold medal, but still we are extremely happy. We can’t describe how important this is going to be in looking back on our careers when we’re much older.”
The twin-podium finish handed Croatia their fourth and fifth Olympic tennis medals since the sport was reintegrated into the Olympics at Seoul 1988 - and their first since Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic claimed doubles bronze at Athens 2004.
The nation also won two tennis bronze medals at Barcelona 1992, when Goran Ivanisevic took third place in both the singles and doubles events, the latter alongside Goran Pripic.