In her latest Sky Sports column, Laura Robson reflects on her experiences at the Paris Olympics, including watching Mondo Duplantis leap into the pole vault world record books and watching Novak Djokovic fall to his knees in tears after completing a career Golden Slam…

I had the best time at the Olympics. It was everything that I’d hoped for and more, because when you play at the Olympics, you’re kind of removed from it all in a way. You don’t have the time to do much other than your sport, and when you’re finished, you leave.

For this Olympics, I was there for two-and-a-half-weeks from start to finish and managed to get everywhere. I went to as many venues as I could. I’d arrive back at the hotel in the evening, look at the schedule to see what sports were still on, then head straight off to a different sport in another stadium.

The atmosphere was incredible. Even at Roland Garros, it felt so different and so energetic compared to what we’re used to there.

My highlight was the pole vault world record because the atmosphere was electric. I’m now obsessed with [Mondo] Duplantis!

I didn’t know anything about the pole vault at the start of the night. I’d gone specifically to watch the 800m and Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson, then you see all the build-up where fellow athletes were struggling to get to 5.70m, and it looked like a stroll in the park for him.

He skipped heights as the other athletes were competing and the camera would cut to him, lying on the floor having a relaxation moment. Up until 6m it seemed like a breeze for him, it looked like he had enough time to take a selfie up in the air.

He won gold about 25 minutes before he broke the world record, but what I loved about it was by the time it arrived at the world record height there was nothing else going on in the stadium. At any given time in athletics there are three or four events happening at once, but 75,000 people stayed to see him jump 6.25m at the third attempt!

He needed about 10 minutes in between attempts, so the build-up to the final one was just magic. I was thinking, ‘of course it was going to be on his third attempt’ because that was the most amazing fairy-tale Olympics moment. I’m still on cloud nine from the experience.

Now I want to be in Los Angeles for 2028 – I need to be working on it somehow!

A stunning men’s tennis final…

It’s incredible the way Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz can play tennis. The gold medal meant so much to them both.

All that build-up and pressure for Djokovic knowing Paris was probably his last Olympics and a final chance at gold. To play that well against someone he had lost to just a couple of weeks before. Someone who has just won two Grand Slams, who is having an incredible summer – I found it really inspiring!

How he was so motivated to win this one thing that he had never completed in tennis, so the reaction said it all in the end.

It was such a moment seeing Djokovic and Alcaraz crying at the same time on opposite ends of the court. There was so much going on, happy tears and sad tears all at once. That was kind of the theme for the entire week. Almost everyone that came through the mixed zone had a tear in their eye at some point!

The 25th Grand Slam doesn’t feel too far away for Novak, but he’s on a well-earned break and I think we will need to see if he even wants to show up at the US Open…

We know Djokovic can win the US Open!

He’s achieved something that he’s described as the pinnacle of his sporting career, so I think it’s quite hard to reset after that.

We know he can win it! We absolutely know he can do it, but whether he wants to come back so soon is the challenge.

How can anything live up to that moment of winning the medal you’ve always wanted?

Then to see his homecoming in Serbia and to see the reaction that he’s had from the public. It will be tough to arrive in New York raring to go!

What’s coming up on Sky Sports Tennis?

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