But in the context of his story, it’s important to remember that del Potro previously ranked as high as World No. 4 back in 2010.
Advertisement
Del Potro, who is ranked 145 in the ATP rankings, beat Djokovic in the bronze medal match of the London Games in 2012.
But when the Argentine is healthy and smacking his signature forehand around the court, his play is worthy of the gold medal match.
This comes a little more than a month after a third-round loss at Wimbledon against Sam Querrey of the United States, and could add to the sense that Djokovic is not as unbeatable as everyone was beginning to think he was when he won the French Open in June to become the first man in almost a half-century to win four consecutive major trophies.
After being rescued, not by officials or maintenance workers but by members of the Argentinian European Handball team (seriously), Del Potro fronted up to his first round match against the current best in the world, and smacked him out of the park in a tense 7-6 7-6 victory.
Djokovic came within two points of defeat on several occasions when serving at 4-5 in the second, battling back to level the set and eventually force another tiebreaker. The two were tied two games before del Potro established a lead, 3-2.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Juan Martin del Potro sobbed into Novak Djokovic’s shoulder, the two opponents locked in a long embrace at the net. “That’s sport”, said world number one Djokovic, whose Olympic singles record is stalled at a bronze from Beijing in 2008. He made it 5-0 before Djokovic scored a point.
“In decisive moments, he just came up with some extraordinary tennis”, Djokovic said of the player he described as “a good friend of mine”.
Speaking afterwards, Djokovic said: “No doubt this is one of the toughest losses in my life and in my career”.
Nadal, playing his first match in two months, made the second round with a comfortable 6-2, 6-1 win over Federico Delbonis of Argentina.
Advertisement
For Serena, it was a first ever loss in Olympic doubles. He would stretch it to 6-3 and after wasting his first set point chance, a blistering forehand down the line gave him the opening set 7-6 (4) in an hour and 13 minutes.
