Tennis star Djokovic's temper flares up as he leaves Tokyo with nothing
Novak Djokovic smashes his racket during his Olympic Games men's singles tennis match in Tokyo on Saturday. AFP
Gulf Today Report
World N0.1 tennis star Novak Djokovic became the latest big name to crash out of the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday. Djokovic lost the bronze-medal match in men's singles at the Olympics, bowing out to Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4, 6-7 (8-6), 6-3 on Saturday.
Djokovic came to Tokyo and became the first player to have a Golden Slam. The Serbian star left the Olympics without a medal and will need some time to recover from a draining performance in extreme conditions that didn’t meet expectations.
The top-ranked Djokovic lost his cool and abused his racket several times during a 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3 loss to Pablo Carreño Busta in the bronze-medal match.
It was Djokovic’s third defeat in two days after Alexander Zverev of Germany defeated him in the semifinals.
Djokovic’s frustration was evident in his on-court behaviour as the match wore on. Having saved a point in the second-set, the angry Djokovic threw his racket into the stands — up and over five rows of seats — after he couldn’t get to a stop-volley winner from Carreño Busta to conclude a long rally in the opening game of the third.
Djokovic, who also lost with Serbian partner Nina Stojanovic in the mixed doubles semifinals on Friday, played a total of 16. The Serbian team of Djokovic and Nina Stojanovic was to take on Australia's world No.1 women's singles player Ashleigh and John Peers in mixed doubles bronze contest, but the International Tennis
Federation (ITF) tweeted before the match that the winner of 20 Grand Slam singles had withdrawn.
"Novak Djokovic withdraws from the mixed doubles bronze medal match due to a left shoulder injury. Ashleigh Barty and John Peers receive a walkover against Djokovic and Nina Stojanovic and win the bronze medal for Australia," tweeted ITF.
