Djokovic: I don't regret giving it my all at Tokyo 2020
Novak Djokovic says he regrets missing the opportunity to win a medal for Serbia at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but not for giving his all in pursuit of a place on the podium on two fronts.
The world No. 1 missed out on a medal following his three-set defeat by Pablo Carreno Busta in Saturday's men's singles bronze medal match. He then withdrew ahead of the mixed doubles bronze medal match, in which he was due to compete alongside Nina Stojanovic, due to a left shoulder injury.
Their walkover handed Ashleigh Barty and John Peers Australia's first ever mixed doubles medal at the Olympics, and saw Djokovic, and Serbia, leave the tennis event without reaching the podium.
“I do have a regret for not winning a medal for my country,” Djokovic admitted. “Opportunities missed both in mixed doubles and in singles. I didn’t deliver yesterday and today the level of tennis dropped, also due to exhaustion mentally and physically.”
An Olympic singles campaign that had promised so much for the reigning Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion ended, surprisingly, with back-to-back losses, the first against Germany's Alexander Zverev in Saturday's semi-final.
Returning a day later, he cut a frustrated figure in the deciding set against Carreno Busta, throwing his racket into the stands and later smashing the Olympic rings on the net, directly under the umpire's chair, for which he was given a warning.
But after the heat of the battle, Djokovic insisted he made the right choice in chasing gold in Tokyo, and hopes to do so again at Paris 2024.
“I don’t regret coming to the Olympics at all, of course not,” he said. “I believe there is no coincidence in life. Everything happens for a reason.
“I’ve had some heart-breaking losses at the Olympic Games and some big tournaments in my career. I know that those losses have usually made me stronger in every aspect. I know that I will bounce back.
“I will try to keep going for the Paris Olympic Games. I will fight for my country to win medals. I’m sorry that I disappointed a lot of sports fans in my country, but that’s sport. I gave it [my] all - whatever I had left in the tank, which was not so much, I left it out on the court.”
With a calendar Grand Slam still a very real possibility, Djokovic will next turn his attentions to Flushing Meadows, and hope that he can return to full fitness for yet another bid for history.
“The consequences physically hopefully will not create a problem for me for the US Open,” he said. “That’s something that I am not sure about right now, but I’m not regretting giving it [my] all because at the end of the day, when you play for your country, that’s necessary.”