The latest news from Rio Olympics is coming out that Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro dumped the world No 1 Novak Djokovic on Sunday.
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Elsewhere, defending champions Serena and Venus Williams suffered their first ever Olympic doubles loss in the opening round in Rio. “I just chilled and took it easy”, said Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, after breaking her own world record in the women’s 100m butterfly final.
The Serb was hardly alone in his disappointment on Day 2 of the Rio de Janeiro Games: He was one of three No. 1 seeds to exit the tennis competition in a wild span of 12 hours.
Del Potro won 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/2), but the scoreline didn’t matter.
The unseeded Brazilian duo needed seven match points to close the deal.The Murray brothers also lost in the first round of the 2012 London Olympics, and in the second round four years earlier in Beijing.
Djokovic settled for a bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics after losing to Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and defeating James Blake in the bronze medal match.
“Got to take it on the chin”, said Jamie, the older brother of two-time Wimbledon victor Andy, “and move on”.
The 27-year-old, who has dropped to 141st in the world after nearly two years out with wrist problems, did not face a single break point on his serve and hammered 29 forehand winners past a helpless Djokovic. So, the Argentenian was all the more pleased with his effort.
Del Potro will face Portugal’s Joao Sousa in the second round on Monday.
Olympic gold is the only major prize that still eludes Djokovic, who was distraught when he spoke to the media after the match.
Of course, Djokovic isn’t going home yet, since he was able to advance to the second round of doubles action. “The wounds are still fresh”, he said.
“This victory is bigger than last time because I know how tough it was to come back from three surgeries”, he said. “But Olympic Games, yeah, it’s completely different”. And tonight, Djokovic’s dream of a singles gold medal Olympic this year came to a bitter end this year at the powerful hands of Juan Martin del Potro. He won his opener in that event Sunday, 6-3, 6-2 against Serbia’s Viktor Troicki.
The two embraced at the net and the tears then flowed as the disappointed Djokovic failed again in his bid for the elusive gold. Strycova and Safarova had lost their only previous match together, playing in the Fed Cup for the Czech Republic, but both are experienced doubles players who have had success with other partners.
But Serena said: “I wouldn’t say it’s devastating. we had a chance to compete for our country, we did the best that we can”.
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A common theme on this day. “I played well mentally with strong concentration all match”.
