“I was at the peak of my career in terms of results, in terms of how I play, how I feel. I felt if there was ever a time for me to get the gold medal or fight for a gold medal, it was now,” Novak Djokovic confessed in an interview with Graham Bensinger in 2020. This was one of the most heartbreaking moments of his career, something he had built a huge expectation for. But all he got was disappointment.

On the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, Novak Djokovic named the 2016 Olympics as the worst moment of his career. He said, “I was struggling a little bit with this injury of the wrist and didn’t know if I’m going to play or not. I played, I lost to Del Potro’s, dear friend, and went on to win a silver medal for his country. I lost in first round in a tight two-setter and two tie breaks.” The journey of the Tennis legend came to an early close at the Rio Olympics when he lost to Juan Martín del Potro in the first round. The scoreboard read 7–6(4), 7–6(2) as the Serbian tennis player’s dreams came crashing down.

The moment broke the Serbian. He shook hands with Potro, misty-eyed once the match was over. Djokovic said in the podcast, “And it was super emotional because Olympics, playing for my country, being supported by the whole stadium, being probably at the peak of my career overall, being on a run and on the roll, winning four slams. I held all four slams at that point. I was just the most dominant I’ve ever been in my career.” Defeating Roger Federer in the 2015 Wimbledon and US Open, followed by Andy Murray in the Australian and French Open, Djokovic had topped them all before the 2016 Olympics.

In his very own words, “Practicing several days, I was like, I cannot miss a ball. This is my time. There’s no chance anybody beats me here.” Well, Novak Djokovic was dominant, so where did it go wrong? The Serbian explained.

“One day or two days before the match, I started to feel something in the wrist, started to doubt myself. I started to question whether I should go out or not.” Before Rio, he was facing a recurring wrist injury, which also led him to withdraw from the Western & Southern Open earlier that year.

Novak Djokovic recalled, “I have a very tough draw. I draw Del Potro, it’s a very tough draw first round. And I lose close match. As I said, he goes on to win silver medal, but that was the moment where I just felt like my whole world collapsed.” Del Potro dominated early, taking the first-set tiebreak with powerful forehands. Djokovic fought back in the second, but Del Potro pulled away in the tiebreak, clinching the win with a dramatic net-cord forehand.

The men’s singles tennis final concluded with Andy Murray of Great Britain defeating Juan Martín del Potro of Argentina in a four-set match. Losing at Rio keeps hurting the tennis legend. “Because Olympic Games happen every four years, they’re so rare. And all the other tournaments, you have a chance every year to win. But here, every four years, so you got to be at your top to be able to get a medal.” Wondering what he had to say back then?

The loss was hard to process for Novak Djokovic

After losing to Del Potro in round 1, the Paris Olympics gold medalist said, “Delpo was the better player and he just deserved to win. That’s sport. He just came up with some extraordinary tennis, and I have to congratulate him.” Despite being dropped to 141st in the world after almost two years out with wrist problems, the Argentine did not face a single break point on his serve and hammered 29 forehand winners past a helpless Djokovic.

“No doubt this is one of the toughest losses in my life and in my career. It’s not easy to handle, especially now, just after the wounds are still fresh. But, you know, you have to deal with it. It’s not the first or the last time I am losing a tennis match. But the Olympic Games, yeah, it’s completely different,” Djokovic shared.

After the match, Juan Martin del Potro sobbed into Novak Djokovic’s shoulder. The two opponents locked in a long embrace at the net. And Djokovic walked off the court weeping.

Before this, he earned bronze in Beijing 2008, finished fourth in London 2012, and the same occurred after Rio in Tokyo 2020. At Paris 2024, he finally got his hands on gold by defeating Carlos Alcaraz 7–6(3), 7–6(2), completing his historic Career Golden Slam. And now, with the US Open ongoing, let’s see if he can claim another one to his long list of titles…