The Serb, who has cracked several times during the meeting, leaves the singles tournament without a medal.
PAce of medal in singles for Djokovic in Tokyo: the world No.1 was beaten on Saturday by the Spaniard Pablo Carreno (11th) in the match for the bronze of the Olympic tennis tournament, 6-4, 6-7 (8 / 6), 6-3.
Beaten in the semi-final Friday by Alexander Zverev, the Serbian, who came to Japan in search of gold and who appeared as the big favorite among the men, fails at the foot of the podium as in London in 2012. Carreno brings him to the Spain’s first medal in men’s singles tennis since 2008, when Rafael Nadal was crowned Olympic champion.
First head down, then frankly annoyed – he threw his racket into the stands at the start of the third set before smashing it to the ground during a change of sides – Djokovic did not manage to find the fault facing an intractable and much more regular Carreno.
After saving a first match point in the tie-break of the second set, the Serbian finally gave in, in the next set, at the Spaniard’s sixth chance point.
Carreno, who had already taken out world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals, managed 32 winning shots against only 18 for Djokovic, whose service was once again lacking (56% of first balls in the match, 40% in the first run).
The Serb, who will play a little later in the match for a bronze medal in the mixed doubles, thus concedes his third defeat in less than 24 hours.
Broken dream
On Friday, first beaten by Zverev, as he was on a 22-game winning streak and left only crumbs to his opponents in the first rounds, the world No.1 had then bowed out in the semi-finals of the mixed doubles, paired with compatriot Nina Stojanovic.
Hard to take for the man who, often less praised than Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, dreamed of inscribing his name in the history of tennis in Tokyo.
Djokovic came to Japan with the ambition to win for gold, the only title missing from his prestigious record.
Bronze medalist in Beijing, he has since chained the disillusionment at the Games. Beaten by Juan Martin Del Potro in London in the bronze medal match, he was then taken out in the first round in Rio, by the same Del Potro, leaving the court in tears.
This time, no tears, but a deep depression. Friday night, Nole had hardly lingered, simply saying that he felt “awfully bad”.
Already crowned at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year, Djokovic, 20 major titles on the clock, still has a chance, if he wins the US Open, to achieve the calendar Grand Slam, something no one has done since Rod Laver in 1969.
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