Novak Djokovic Loses At Tokyo Olympics, Misses Out On Golden Slam

Novak Djokovic has had his name etched into tennis’s history books on a number of occasions, but he will not have it put down as a golden slam winner. Djokovic fell to German Alexander Zverev in the Tokyo Olympics.

“I’m not only playing for myself I’m not only playing for my parents, for my brother, for my family, But I’m also playing for everybody, all the (German) athletes here back at the base and everybody back at home watching,” Zverev noted about his monumental upset over the world’s current number one player.

Djokovic lost the best-of-three match by a set scoreline of 1-6, 6-3, 6-1. The match was the Olympic semifinal and would have put Djokovic one win away from the Golden Slam. The “Golden Slam” is when a tennis player wins all four major tournaments and gold in the Olympics; Djokovic was hoping to become the first player ever to do so.

“At the end of the day he’s the greatest of all time because he’s going to win the most Grand Slams, he’s going to win the most Master Series, he’s going to be the longest at the world No. 1, and I’m sure 99% that this is the case when it’s all said and done,” Zverev said of his opponent.

The loss is Djokovic’s first in over two months. He will now compete for a bronze medal. Interestingly, Djokovic’s only Olympic medal was bronze and was won in 2008. He still has a chance at gold in mixed doubles.

Article by David Metzger