Rio de Janeiro, Aug 8: Argentine tennis star Juan Martin del Potro broke many hearts when he stunned world number 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the opening round of men’s singles at Rio Olympics 2016 yesterday (August 7).
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“This victory is bigger than last time because I know how tough it was to come back from three surgeries”, said the 27-year-old who unleashed more than 40 winners.
Djokovic’s 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) setback Sunday night was caused in large part by ferocious forehand after ferocious forehand from a resurgent Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.
Apparently, del Potro’s athlete-village block suffered a power outage while he was in the elevator. del Potro’s media representative tweeted this cute picture of the 2009 US Open champion while he sat in the elevator waiting for help.
With Djokovic out of the draw, 2012 gold medalist Andy Murray, who is seeded No. 2, becomes the favorite as he bids to become the first player to win consecutive Olympic singles titles.
Djokovic finally won the French Open in June, becoming the first man in 47 years to hold all four grand slam titles at once.
Up next for the Spaniard is a second-round affair with Andreas Seppi, while Del Potro will face Joao Souasa on Monday.
Djokovic appeared to cry when a blistering forehand by del Potro clipped the top of the net and fell over for the winning point, so significant was the match to him.
The post Rio Olympics 2016: Djokovic crashes appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.
Defending champions Andy Murray and Serena Williams defied high winds to breeze into the Olympic tennis second round Sunday as organisers were blasted for allowing play in conditions described as “ugly”. The two were tied two games before del Potro established a lead, 3-2.
“It will be a tough match for me but if I can still hit my forehand hard and serve well then maybe I can win”.
“I have just heard that Novak Djokovic has gone out of the singles”. I’m playing at a good level; I beat the No. 1 of the world.It’s awesome for me. It’s not easy to handle but you have to deal with it. This just goes to show how much sportsmanship there is in the sport of tennis and the Serbian always seems to show that side of him, even in a massive loss such as this.
“This felt like I was in my own country”.
Del Potro is an injury prone Tennis players as he just recovered from a wrist injury and now he beat the No 1.
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“He’s a great champion, a friend for a long time”.
