Del Potro, who was once ranked fourth highest in the world, said the performance against Djokovic gave him hope of fully overcoming his injury nightmare.
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Del Potro used his lethal forehand to stun the Serb with a powerful display to win 7-6 (4) 7-6 (2) in the biggest upset of the tennis tournament. “Not easy to handle”. Del Potro, who is now ranked number 145 in the world, was the first to admit that he was not expecting to beat Novak Djokovic in the first round.
Andy Murray and his older brother Jamie exited in the first round of doubles.
“It’s really hard to talk now”, Del Potro explained in an on-court interview.
The Murray brothers saved six match points and played some incredible tennis themselves in an wonderful second set tie-break, but the Brazilians would not be denied.
The simply manic crowd ensured that proceedings were drenched in emotion from start to finish, and in the end both players left the court in tears.
Djokovic had won seven of their eight most recent meetings, and 11 of 14 overall, before Sunday.
One destroyed racket – and one poor set – later, Serena Williams made it safely into the third round of the Rio Olympics as she bids for a second consecutive singles gold medal.
Representing Serbia means a lot to Djokovic, who led his country to a Davis Cup title and carried its flag at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Games.
A day after Djokovic and two other No. 1 seeds were beaten – including Serena and Venus Williams in women’s doubles – things were far quieter Monday afternoon. “I felt like I was Brazilian and I thank them with all my heart”. The wounds are still fresh, but you know, you’ve got to deal with it. It’s not the first, or the last time I’m losing a tennis match. “But the Olympic Games, yeah, it’s completely different”.
“I am going slowly, I am trying to get better every day and I think I am doing well”, added del Potro, a bronze medallist at the London Games in 2012.
Murray was more succesful in the singles, beating his first round opponent Viktor Troicki, 6-3 6-2 to set up a clash against Argentine Juan Monaco in Round 2.
Williams, sporting a patriotic Stars and Stripes hairband on centre court, will next face Alize Cornet, the Frenchwoman who defeated her three times in 2014, including at Wimbledon.
“We played awful and that basically showed”, she said.
A common theme on this day.
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But as Djokovic said after the loss, “Delpo was the better player and he deserved to win. I played well mentally with strong concentration all match”.
