Novak Djokovic returns a forehand to James Blake.
(BEIJING, August 16) -- World No. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia won the second medal of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games for Serbia with a 6-3, 7-6(4) win over James Blake of the United States at the Olympic Green Tennis Center on Saturday, August 16.
Djokovic, the first medalist to be decided at the Tennis venue, joins compatriot Milorad Cavic, who was just edged out of the gold medal in the 100m butterfly by Michael Phelps of the United States earlier in the day, as a Serbian medal winner at these Olympic Games.
Playing in his first Olympics, Djokovic is the first player from his NOC to win a medal in Tennis.
In celebration, Djokovic went down on his knees, tore off his shirt and threw it to fans in the crowd, and proudly held up the Serbian flag.
Djokovic was on top of Blake from the outset, serving confidently enough to avoid having his serve broken during the 76-minute match, offering his opponent only one service break opportunity in the second set.
The match was dominated by unforced errors, with Blake putting up 35 and Djokovic racking in 36.
Blake surrendered his serve in the fourth game of the first set to lose momentum in the match early on.
The second set stayed on course until the tiebreaker where Djokovic was able to take control when the American faltered.
At 4-4, an out of position Blake was tripped up on a backhand, which gave Djokovic two chances to serve out the match with a 5-4 lead. Blake made two backhand errors on the final two points, resulting in the bronze medal being draped around the Serbian's neck.
0 comments:
Post a Comment