Tulane Tennis Star Defeated by World Best Novak Djokovic in 2024 Paris Olympics
Tulane has sent four of its athletes and staff, past and present, to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The star of the show so far has been Tulane Tennis alumni and German national Dominik Koepfer, who graduated in 2016.
During this year's Olympics, Koepfer won his first Men's Singles round against Canadian Milos Raonic and the second round against Italian Matteo Arnaldi, which setup a showdown with the world's best Novak Djokovic in the third round that took place on Friday.
Koepfer had a real shot at unseating Djokovic, especially since the Serbian was not playing with his A-game and the former Green Wave athlete looked strong in the beginning.
In the end, Koepfer was eliminated by Djokovic who secured the victory with a score of 7-5 and 6-3.
That marks the end of Koepfer's Olympic campaign, as he was also eliminated in the third round of the Men's Double bracket on Friday as well.
Koepfer and teammate Jan-Lennard Struff went down swinging against an Australian duo who advamnced to the semi-finals with the victory.
It was a good run for the former Tulane standout as he continues to cement his legacy within the sport of Tennis and at Tulane. While attending Tulane, Koepfer became the first men's national champion in the singles since 1955, and was a multi-time All-American, the fifth to do so in program history.
According to the school, Koepfer owns the "second most career singles wins (102), second best career singles winning percentage (.780), third most career doubles wins (68), second most career overall wins (171), third best career overall winning percentage (.734), third most single season singles wins (32), best single season singles winning percentage (.865)."
KADE KISTNER