“No doubt it’s one of the toughest losses of my life, in my career”, Djokovic, who is still alive in men’s doubles alongside partner Nenad Zimonjic, said after the loss.
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Both combinations were successful with two breaks of serve each. It was reported that Del Potro shouted for help.
Olympic gold is about all that’s missing for 12-time grand-slam champion Djokovic, but the 29-year-old was nearly powerless in his first-round loss.
The world’s top men’s player, Novak Djokovic, was eliminated from singles competition Sunday night, after falling to Juan Martin del Porto.
Djokovic will be 33 by the time of the Tokyo 2020 Games meaning the Rio men’s doubles could be his best hope of achieving Olympic success.
Djokovic went down under a hail of Del Potro winners, the Argentinian’s forehand proving particularly devastating as he overcame the top seed in style.
“It was a lot of fun and we will always remember these moments and these matches and at the end of the day I think that’s what matters most”.
Del Potro took the lead for good, Djokovic missing a backhand and now del Potro led 3-2.
Earlier, defending champion Andy Murray won his opening Olympic singles match by beating Serbia’s Viktor Troicki.
“I was a little bit nervous at the start”. The sister act had won 15 matches in a row en route to gold in 2004, 2008 and 2012, and each also has a singles gold.
It was his second successive Olympics loss to Del Potro having also come up short in the bronze medal match at London on 2012.
She got her campaign off to the ideal start, defeating Australia’s Daria Gavrilova 6-4, 6-2.
Serena Williams, of the United States, screams after winning the first set against Alize Cornet, of France, at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016.
Strycova was not even originally scheduled to play doubles with Safarova in Rio but they joined forces after Karolina Pliskova withdrew from the games.
Seperately, the Williams sisters crashed out to the Czech Fed Cup winners Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova, losing 6-3, 6-4 in what Serena called a awful performance.
This year, the Serb won his maiden French Open, a title that had eluded him since his debut.
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During that troublesome stretch, Williams reacted to losing two games in a row by mangling the tool of her trade, slamming it against the back of her green-and-white sideline bench before depositing it on the ground.
