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Citing injury, Djokovic withdraws from mixed doubles bronze medal match

Citing injury, Djokovic withdraws from mixed doubles bronze medal match
Posted at 4:48 AM, Jul 31, 2021
and last updated 2021-07-31 06:12:38-04

Australia's Ash Barty and John Peers were awarded the Tokyo Olympics mixed doubles bronze medal after the Serbian team of Novak Djokovic and Nina Stojanovic withdrew from their match, citing an injury to Djokovic's left shoulder. 

Djokovic, the top-ranked men's player in the world, lost to Pablo Carreno Busta in the men's singles bronze medal match shortly before the mixed doubles match was scheduled to begin. He had cruised through the first four rounds of the singles tournament before falling to Germany's Alexander Zverev in the semifinals.

The 34-year-old Djokovic appeared exhausted in his final match, letting his frustration visibly boil over multiple times in the nearly three-hour outing. In the lead-up to the Games, Djokovic won the the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon consecutively.

The four-time Olympian and 20-time Grand Slam champion leaves the Games without a medal for the third time in a row. Djokovic won bronze in 2008 and is tied with Roger Federer for the most Olympic match wins at 13.

Barty, the women's world No. 1 who also won Wimbledon this year, was knocked out in the first round of singles in Tokyo. The medal is Australia's first in Olympic tennis since 2004.