Tennis

Novak Djokovic Upset in Bronze Medal Match in Tokyo; Withdraws From Doubles

It was the second straight loss for the world's top-ranked player

NBCUniversal Media, LLC

There will be no Bronzed Slam for Novak Djokovic either.

After losing his bid for the Golden Slam of tennis when his gold medal hopes were dashed in his surprising semifinal loss on Friday, Djokovic then lost the bronze medal match on Saturday, falling 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 to Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta.

After dropping the first set, Djokovic was facing match point in the tiebreaker of the second set. He recovered and went on force a third and deciding set. There, Carreno built an early lead, with Djokovic at one point throwing his racket into the stands out of frustration, and closed out the match to win bronze.

Djokovic entered the Games on a quest to become the first men's tennis player to win the Golden Slam, which consists of all four Grand Slam events and an Olympic gold medal in the same year. Djokovic, winner of 20 career Grand Slams, had already won the Austrailian Open, French Open and Wimbledon this year.

Instead, he'll look to win the U.S. Open in September to capture the calendar-year Grand Slam, which has not been achieved by a men's tennis player since Rod Laver in 1969.

Djokovic, who won the bronze medal in men's singles during the 2008 Beijing Games, seemingly still had another opportunity to medal in Tokyo. He was scheduled to compete for another bronze later Saturday when he teamed with Nina Stojanovic to take on Austria's John Peers and Ashleigh Barty in the mixed doubles bronze medal match.

It was then reported that Djokovic withdrew from the match due to a shoulder injury.

Turns out there will be no medal at all for the world's top-ranked player, who entered the Olympics having not lost since May.

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