“Amazing, wonderful match for me, my forehand worked great”.
Advertisement
Juan Martin del Potro stunned a tearful Novak Djokovic in an emotional Olympics triumph as Venus Williams pondered the end of her four-gold Games odyssey.
Del Potro compared his win to the one of the Argentinean Paula Pareto in Judo: ‘Nothing is impossible, yesterday Paul and today me. I didn’t expect to beat him.
Williams, 36, and sister Serena suffered their first ever defeat in women’s doubles, a record which boasted 15 successive match wins and golds in Sydney in 2000, Beijing in 2008 and London four years ago. But when he arrived at Wimbledon in June, he hadn’t appeared at a Major in 2½ years. He lost in the first round to Juan Martin Del Potro (141st place), such a fact made impossible for Novak winning the gold medal in 2016 Olympic Games.
With Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna out of the men’s doubles with a loss to Marcin Matkowski and Lukasz Kubot of Poland, and Sania Mirza and partner Prarthana Thombare also exiting, it is up to the mixed doubles combine of Mirza and Bopanna to keep India’s medal hopes alive in the tennis. A big forehand that Djokovic couldn’t get back gave him three set points, and he converted the second when Djokovic’s forehand sailed wide.
However, the Williams sisters and Murray brothers bowed out of the respective women’s and men’s doubles competitions – the former losing their ideal Olympic record in the process.
Del Potro resorted to selfie-taking and very limited internet to get his distress call out.
“That was an unbelievable match for me”, he said, shaking his head. But he was upset in the third round at Wimbledon by 41st-ranked Sam Querrey.
The Serb was left standing in tears in front of a raucous crowd in Rio de Janeiro, as the injury-plagued Argentinian put on one of his best performances in years.
Each of the two sets Sunday night required a tiebreaker, but Del Potro came out on top both times to secure a 7-6, 7-6 victory and advance to the second round. The year before that, he won his first (and so far only) Grand Slam title at the 2009 US Open. He has struggled with wrist problems, before and since then. He was still slicing often last night, but the two-handed shot is beginning to look more comfortable.
While spending time in the lift, Del Potro took a selfie, which was posted on the micro-blogging website Twitter, by his publicist Jorge Viale.
Earlier, the New Zealand women sevens side battled to an unconvincing 5-0 win over the United States.
Del Potro hit 41 winners Sunday, 29 on his forehand. To lose the match on a net cord really sums it up.
Advertisement
Victor of 12 grand slams, Djokovic was no match for Del Potro and he was visibly emotional, walking off Centre Court in tears.
