Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain claims bronze after beating Serbia’s Novak Djokovic

Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta dropped to the ground and into the marked Olympic rings on court in the men's singles match at the Ariake Tennis Centre after beating one of tennis' all-time greats, Novak Djokovic to the bronze medal.

After claiming a set each in the men’s tennis bronze medal match it was down to a final set shoot-out between Carreno Busta and the 20-time Grand Slam champion, Djokovic. The Spaniard came out on top 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 keeping his cool after a fiery performance from the Serb.

Carreno Busta brushed off the disappointment of losing the second set on a tie-break – in which he had a match point – to fight hard to hold his serve in the first game of the third and final set. He then broke the Serb's serve to take a lead he never relinquished.

Carreno Busta finally beat the all-time great but needed six match points to do it. Djokovic comes away from the singles tournament without a medal.

The Serb was really after the elusive Golden Slam – winning all four majors plus the Olympic Games, which has only ever been done once before by Germany’s Steffi Graf, but never been achieved on the men’s side. Nevertheless, he is still on target to win the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year, the US Open beginning 30 August having won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon in 2021.

Djokovic was upset in the Olympic semifinals in Tokyo by Zverev, 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 at the Ariake Tennis Court. The No 4 seed will play ROC’s Karen Khachanov for the gold medal and can do no worse than silver.