(VIDEO): Novak Djokovic receives hero welcome in Serbia after winning gold at Paris Olympics

Former world number one Novak Djokovic received a hero welcome in Serbia after winning the gold medal for his country at the Paris Olympics. The 37-year-old is regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis in the Open era, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles.

Djokovic recently participated in the Paris Olympics, where he finally won something to complete his trophy cabinet. The Belgrade-born star defeated Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the singles event with a score of 7-6, 7-6 to win a gold medal for his country. It was the only thing missing from Djokovic’s trophy cabinet, and it was clear that achieving it meant a lot to him as he burst into tears on the court.

The current world number two received a hero welcome in Serbia as he arrived back from Paris. The visuals were shared online in a video on social media, where Djokovic can be seen and presented with the rest of the Serbian team members. He was full of smiles and kissed his medal more than once. The victory was even more special for Djokovic as just a few months back, it was not even clear whether he would even participate in the Paris Olympics.

The reason was that the former world number suffered a serious knee injury during the French Open which forced him to withdraw just before the start of the quarterfinal against Norway’s Casper Ruud. Soon after, Djokovic had to go through a knee surgery and it was reported that the legendary tennis star might take as long as two months to recover before starting playing again at the highest level. However, not only did Djokovic return to the court soon after, but he also returned to his very best. Before playing in the Paris Olympics, the 24-time Grand Slam winner played at Wimbledon where he went all the way to the final and lost to Alcaraz in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-2, 7-6.