Novak Djokovic, top-ranked tennis participant, will go away the Tokyo Olympics with none medals
Tennis star Novak Djokovic will go away the Olympics with none medals for the third time in a row after he misplaced
two consecutive matches and withdrew from third match as a consequence of a shoulder damage.
Djokovic, the highest ranked males’s tennis participant on this planet, misplaced on Friday to Germany’s Alexander Zverev with a ultimate rating of 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 within the match semifinals. Zverev now will transfer on to compete for gold towards Karen Khachanov from Russia on Sunday.
Djokovic’s upset defeat knocked him out of the working to attain a “Golden Slam” — the uncommon feat in tennis the place a participant wins every Grand Slam match and an Olympic gold medal throughout the identical yr. No man has ever received the Golden Slam. Steffi Graf in 1988 turned the one participant to ever obtain the feat, in line with CBS Sports activities.
On Saturday, Djokovic misplaced his likelihood at profitable bronze in males’s singles after his 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3 defeat to Pablo Carreno Busta from Spain.
Later within the day, he withdrew from his scheduled blended doubles match with taking part in accomplice Nina Stojanovic as a consequence of a shoulder damage, buying and selling in his ultimate likelihood at profitable a medal in Tokyo, the Worldwide Federation of Tennis reported.
“I am sorry to Nina for not having the ability to play however my physique simply gave up,” Djokovic stated. “I am sorry that I upset a whole lot of sports activities followers in my nation, however that is sport. I gave all of it, no matter I had left within the tank, which was not a lot. I left it out on the court docket.”
Ash Barty and Josh Friends from Australia will as a substitute obtain the bronze medal for blended doubles, in line with the organizing committee for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Video games.
Throughout his match towards Busta, Djokovic threw his racket into the empty stands in frustration earlier than later smashing
one other racket into the online, which drew a warning from the umpire.
“It is a part of, I assume, who I’m,” Djokovic stated in a post-game interview. “I do not like doing this stuff. I am sorry for sending this sort of message, however we’re all human beings, and generally it is troublesome to manage your feelings.”
Final yr, the 20-time Grand Slam victor was disqualified and fined from the U.S. Open after he hit a ball out of frustration, placing a decide within the throat. The U.S. Open stated in an announcement on the time that his actions violated a rule of “deliberately hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly throughout the court docket, or hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the results.”
Djokovic stated he hopes to compete within the Paris Olympics scheduled for 2024. “I’ll combat for my nation to win medals,” he added.
