Rafael Nadal Fans Mock Novak Djokovic After Serb's Golden Slam Bid Ends With Stunning Loss in Tokyo
World No 1 Novak Djokovic has won everything that is there to be won in men's tennis, including a record 20 Grand Slam titles and 36 Masters trophies. But an Olympic gold medal has eluded him and his wait to become an Olympic champion will now extend to 2024, when the next games will be held in Paris.
Fans of Rafael Nadal have recently taken to their social media accounts to mock reigning Australian Open, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic's pursuit of a "Golden Slam" at the Tokyo Olympics.
Just like that, the Golden Slam quest is over.
Novak Djokovic loses 10 of the last 11 games and is beaten by Alexander Zverev.
A stunner.
We knew best of three made him more vulnerable. We knew he wouldn’t like the humidity. But we didn’t actually believe he’d lose.#Olympics
— The Tennis Podcast (@TennisPodcast) July 30, 2021
The history books will show Nadal won Olympic Gold with Federer, Djokovic, Murray, Cilic, Wawrinka, Ferrer, Davydenko, Hewitt competing at the event.
Djokovic couldn’t win Gold with a 250 event in which he was only 1 of 2 entrants to have won a slam.
— SerMM91 (@SerMM91) July 30, 2021
Nadal's feat of winning RG, Wimbledon and hard court Olympics in a row remains underrated
Unless Djokovic wins gold on clay at age 37 or on hard at age 41, Nadal will remain the only one of the 3 GOATs with singles gold
— Trenton Jocz (@TrentonJocz) July 30, 2021
The Olympic semifinal curse is strong with Djokovic
• 2008: Loses to Nadal in singles SF
• 2012: Loses to Murray in singles SF
• 2020: Loses to Zverev in singles SF
• 2020: Loses to Vesnina/Karatsev in mixed dubs SFOddly enough, the gold medal match continues to elude him
— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) July 30, 2021
we need to accept the fact that Djokovic in a tournament without Federer or Nadal to even put up a fight is simply not fair ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
— Ajdin Balihodzic (@the_ab9) July 30, 2021
And the 35-year-old left-hander's fans were seen trolling Djokovic after he failed to win a gold medal in Tokyo, particularly when his leading rivals, including Nadal, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray were absent from the field.
The Serbian superstar's campaign to become the first man to claim a "Golden Slam" came to an abrupt end after he was beaten by Germany's Alexander Zverev in the semifinals of the singles event in the Japanese capital on Friday.
A "Golden Slam" in tennis means winning the four Majors - namely the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, the US Open - and the gold medal at the Olympics all in one year.
Only German icon Steffi Graf has achieved the feat, a milestone the 22-time Grand Slam winner achieved in 1988.
Graf's achievement is all the more remarkable, considering she was just a 19-year-old teenager when she did it.
Djokovic holds numerous world records in tennis. The Belgrade native has spent the most number of weeks (331) at No 1, and is the only player to achieve a double career Grand Slam and a double career Golden Masters, but has never been past the semis in the Olympics.
On the other hand, Nadal is a two-time Olympic champion, winning a gold medal in both singles and doubles.
Djokovic has only won a bronze medal in his four attempts at the Olympic Games.
Nadal clinched the yellow metal in singles in Beijing in 2008, the same year Djokovic grabbed his only medal at the games.
The Spaniard won his second gold medal at the Rio 2016 games, where he teamed up with countryman Marc Lopez to win the men's doubles competition.
Despite making a flying start in his encounter against World No 5 Zverev, Djokovic came up short, meeting a similar fate to what he faced in his last three Olympics.
During the first half, the 34-year-old appeared to be in complete control of the match as he led by a set and a service break and had his sights on a place in the final.
But suddenly he started making errors and allowed his opponent a foot in the door.
Zverev not only grabbed his chance with both hands, but started to flourish as Novak's forehand began to unravel in Tokyo's heat.
Eventually, the German went to claim a stunning 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 triumph over the Serb, ending Djokovic's 22-match winning streak that started at the French Open in May this year.
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