Del Potro may not even have been able to play without a hand from his Olympic teammates.
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Del Potro is an injury prone Tennis players as he just recovered from a wrist injury and now he beat the No 1. The Argentine, who knocked out Djoker, was overwhelmed with emotions and described the match as an “amazing one” for him.
The 27-year-old now faces Portugal’s Joao Sousa – hopefully after taking the stairs.
Serena Williams opened defence of her Olympic singles gold medal with a patchy-at-times 6-4 6-2 victory over Australia’s Daria Gavrilova yesterday, gesturing or yelling at herself as she often does when not all goes her way.
Del Potro is currently in the qualifiers for the US Open, but his chances of earning a wildcard have now increased significantly.
Speaking after the game, Djokovic admitted that it is one of the toughest losses of his careers, but was quick to praise his opponent, saying he played some “extraordinary” tennis.
And it proved to be more Olympics heartache for Djokovic as he was beaten in straight sets in a high-quality contest that continued a disappointing second half of the season for the Serb. “It’s not the first or last time I am losing a tennis match but the Olympic Games is obviously completely different”.
A rematch of the 2012 London Olympics bronze-medal match, also won by Del Potro, this Rio de Janeiro showdown was enthralling from start to finish.
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. Djokovic finally got on the scoreboard and took two of the next three points, but Del Potro capped off the upset with a fortuitous victor off the net cord. I didn’t see the match but that is obviously a surprise. The wounds are still fresh, but you know, you’ve got to deal with it.
Djokovic was trying to become just the third man to complete the career Golden Slam of all four majors plus Olympic gold. “The way the match went, it was a tough one to lose but it just wasn’t meant to be”.
Del Potro had a forgettable experience when he had to spend 40 minutes in the dark in a lift.
“Delpo was the better player and he deserved to win”, Djokovic was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
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It’s a bad day for people who are usually very good at tennis.
