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Novak Djokovic will have to wait another four years to complete his Golden Career Slam after the world number one was upset in the first round of the Olympic tennis tournament on Monday morning (AEST).
The Serb, the Bronze Medallist at Beijing in 2008, went down to Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro in a tight straight-setter, which each set going to a tiebreak and lasting over an hour.
It was a rematch of the Bronze Medal playoff from London in 2012, which del Potro won to seemingly cap off a comeback after a serious wrist injury wiped out the majority of his 2010 season, the year after his triumph at the 2009 US Open.
He subsequently went on to reach the quarter-finals at the US Open that year, and the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2013, losing both times to Djokovic, before matching his career-best ranking of world number four early in 2014.
But just as his comeback was only getting started, once again more wrist problems would sideline him for the next two seasons and his ranking would plummet well outside of the top 500, having previously been as low as 485th in February 2011.
He then returned to action at Wimbledon this year, contesting his first Grand Slam tournament in 30 months. There, he beat Stan Wawrinka in the second round before losing to Frenchman Lucas Pouille in the third round.
While del Potro was sidelined, Djokovic continued to go from strength to strength, reaching all four Grand Slam finals in 2015 and only failing to win the French Open where Stan Wawrinka defeated him in four sets.
He then became the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major titles simultaneously when he finally reigned at Roland Garros two months ago, in the process also completing his Grand Slam set.
But his bid to become the first man in tennis history to achieve the Golden Calendar Slam was shattered when he lost to Sam Querrey in the third round at Wimbledon, this being his worst result at a Grand Slam tournament in seven years.
Despite the disappointing result at the All England Club, Djokovic was seen by many as the favourite to win the gold medal in Rio, which would’ve seen him join Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal in achieving the Golden Career Slam.
When the draw was conducted on Thursday morning (Rio time), he ended up drawing the most dangerous unseeded opponent in the form of Juan Martin del Potro, whose ranking had improved to 145th.
For all his well-documented injury woes, the Argentine has had several career highs including defeating Roger Federer in the final of the 2009 US Open, reaching a career-high ranking of world number four in January 2010 and, as mentioned before, winning the Bronze Medal in London four years ago.
It was this version of del Potro that turned up to play, and sure he did. He hit over 40 winners, did not face a single break point on his serve and constantly put pressure on Djokovic’s.
In fact, there were no breaks of serve for the entire match (del Potro had seven break point chances, but couldn’t convert any), but it was del Potro who stood up well in the two tiebreak sets. He took the first one 7-4 then ran away with the second 7-2 to send the gold medal favourite crashing out of the Rio Olympics.
The Argentine now goes on to face Portugal’s Joao Sousa in the second round.
As for Djokovic, the impact of this disappointing result was clearly there for all to see when he was seen leaving the court in tears, knowing that this was probably his best chance yet to win the only title to elude him in his illustrious career.
“Delpo was the better player and he deserved to win. That’s sport,” said the world number one. “It’s very sad and disappointing to go out of the tournament this early but I am glad that a good friend of mine, who has struggled with injuries, has won.”
Djokovic will be 33 by the time the next Summer Olympics are held, in Tokyo in 2020. By then, should his dominant form at the Grand Slams continue, he will also have very likely surpassed the Grand Slam tallies of Rafael Nadal, Pete Sampras (14 major titles each) and Roger Federer (17). He currently sits on twelve.
His defeat also opens the door for Rafael Nadal, who Djokovic was projected to meet in the semi-finals, to return to the gold medal match eight years after topping the Olympic dais and four years after he was forced to forgo his gold medal defence in London due to a knee injury.
The Spaniard defeated another Argentine, Federico Delbonis, in straight sets to move through to the second round where Italian Andreas Seppi will now await.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Kei Nishikori, David Ferrer and Andy Murray also advanced, while Australia’s John Millman made history by becoming the first man in Olympic tennis history to win with a double bagel, doing so against Ricardis Berankis.
American 14th seed Jack Sock was the only other seeded first round casualty; he lost to Japan’s Taro Daniel in straight sets.
In the women’s draw, defending gold medallist Serena Williams progressed to the second round with a straight-sets victory of Russian-turned-Australian Daria Gavrilova, but elder sister Venus was not so lucky, losing to Belgian Kirsten Flipkens in a thrilling three-setter where the final set was decided in a tiebreak.
First-time Grand Slam champions this year, Angelique Kerber and Garbine Muguruza, also progressed with victories over Mariana Duque and Andreea Mitu respectively, while dual Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and former world number one Caroline Wozniacki lined up a second round clash against each other.
Kerber now faces a tricky second round clash against Eugenie Bouchard, who has won their last three meetings in succession including in Rome three months ago when the German was struggling in the aftermath of her Australian Open victory.
Bouchard defeated fellow Olympic debutant Sloane Stephens in straight sets.
Former Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska and former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic were also early casualties, while another former world number one, Jelena Jankovic, was forced to withdraw before her match against Muguruza due to a shoulder injury.
There was another upset in the women’s doubles when the Williams sisters suffered their first ever loss in an Olympics match, the defending gold medallists from London losing to the Czech pair of Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova.
The Murray brothers (Andy and Jamie) also crashed out in the men’s doubles.
Back on topic to finish off, and Novak Djokovic’s shock first round exit will open the door for a possible final showdown between the two most recent gold medallists in tennis, Rafael Nadal (Beijing 2008) and Andy Murray (London 2012).
If it eventuates, one of them will become a dual Olympic gold medallist, but just who will be the most interesting question for the rest of this week.
While Murray might be the new favourite among the bookies to once again top the Olympic dais, Nadal must also be considered a chance given his gold medal eight years ago came on the same hard courts this year’s tournament is being played on.
As was the case in Beijing, DecoTurf is the surface that is being used in Rio, so as to not disrupt the players’ preparations for the US Open, which uses this surface, later this month.
However, it wasn’t until 2010 that Nadal was able to win the US Open, which saw him become just the second man after Andre Agassi to complete the Golden Career Slam.
Another gold medal in Rio will just about cement the Spaniard in tennis immortality, if he can achieve it in the face of the injury and form woes the 30-year-old has faced this year.
As for Novak Djokovic, while his gold medal dream has been shattered for now, it by no means is all but over. As mentioned above, he will be 33 by the time Tokyo comes around, but whether he will be the dominant man he was before Wimbledon this year will remain to be seen.
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