His career-capping win over Carlos Alcaraz, and the devastating crosscourt forehand that led to it, sum up the Serbian as well as any match he’s ever played, and any shot he’s ever hit.

What are the greatest shots that the greatest men’s tennis player of all time, Novak Djokovic, has ever hit? Before Sunday, three came to mind right away.

First, there was his all-or-nothing crosscourt forehand return to save match point against Roger Federer in the 2011 US Open semifinals—it was known, once upon a time, as “The Shot.”

Second, there was his devastating crosscourt forehand pass against Rafael Nadal late in the fifth set of their 2018 Wimbledon semifinal.

Third, there was his even more devastating crosscourt forehand pass to save a championship point against Federer in the 2019 Wimbledon final.

Now you can add a fourth earth-shattering stroke to that list, and this one may go straight to the top. Again it was a crosscourt forehand. Again it came against one of his top rivals, this time Carlos Alcaraz. Again it happened late in a massive contest, at 2-2 in the second-set tiebreaker of the best-of-three-set Olympic gold-medal match.

And again, it made the difference in the outcome, and showed that Djokovic can take anyone’s best, and find a way to top it.

Like rivals Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic has won an Olympic gold medal.

At 2-2, Djokovic and Alcaraz got into the type of intense, give-no-ground, fight-fire-with-more-fire baseline rally that had characterized this match.

Normally, when Alcaraz turns these rallies into an exchange of forehands against Djokovic (or anyone else), he’s the one who terminates it with a blistering, heavy-spinning winner into the corner that leaves his opponent flailing futilely after the ball. And Alcaraz did hit a shot that looked, for a split-second, like it would do exactly that.

But not this time, not when Djokovic was trying to win something that had eluded him for 16 years. Instead of watching the ball go by him, the 37-year-old took a step back, wheeled his hips around, and tore through an even harder crosscourt forehand, at a more acute angle, that left his 21-year-old opponent with, for once, no way to respond. Djokovic had a winner, a mini-break and a 3-2 lead. He wouldn’t lose another point.

“I don’t know what to say, I’m still in shock, honestly,” said Djokovic after his nearly . “I put my heart, my soul, my body, my family, my everything on the line to win Olympic gold at age 37. I finally did it.”