Novak Djokovic smashes racket in furious outburst during Olympic defeat

Kieran Galpin

Djokovic almost literally explodes with anger

Novak Djokovic could not hide his frustration as he fell beneath the might of Spanish star Pablo Carreno Busta in the Olympic tennis bronze medal match.

World No1 Djokovic was denied a shot at a Golden Slam as he was beaten by Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals on Friday. He was then beaten again in the mixed doubles at the same stage. Djokovic’s anger finally got the better of him today as he threw a racket into the stands before smashing another during his defeat at the hands of Busta.

https://twitter.com/Hgserrano/status/1421404419015520259

Djokovic won bronze at the 2008 Beijing 2008 but has not won an Olympic medal since. However, having won the first three Grand Slams of the year, many had hoped Djokovic could bring home a medal from Tokyo.

His serves during the first set were his undoing against Carreno Busta, who broke for 3-2 while saving all five break points he faced. Despite his serving improving during the second set, Carreno Busta’s continued pressure and quick reactions were too much for the world No1 to combat.

After his singles defeat, Djokovic revealed he had pulled out of his mixed doubles bronze-medal match, where he and Nina Stojanovic had been set to battle Australia’s Ashleigh Barty and John Peers.

This comes after Djokovic said the following about Simone Biles: “Without pressure there is no professional sport. If you are aiming to be at the top of the game you better start learning how to deal with pressure.”

In other news, Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smit has revealed she pulled out of the Olympic 200m due to a hamstring injury from earlier this month.

https://twitter.com/BBCSport/status/1421435494693539841

“It broke my heart because I am a competitor,” she said.

“It is the Olympics but there are plenty other championships for me to come and kill.”

“I’m really proud to have been able to execute my races here today and I’m really proud of everything I’ve done to this point,” she said. “But when you’re talking about the standard that I want to be at and know I’m capable of…

“There’s plenty more championships for me to come and kill.”