TOKYO — There will be no Golden Slam for Novak Djokovic after all.
The world’s No. 1 tennis player, who had appeared untouchable since arriving at the Tokyo Olympics in pursuit of a gold medal, shockingly fell apart in the men’s semifinals Friday and lost to No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany in three sets: 1-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Djokovic, who won the first three Grand Slam titles of 2021, was aiming to add a gold medal before he heads to the U.S. Open in a month, potentially setting him up to be the first male player to win those five huge prizes in the same calendar year.