del Potro Earns His First-Ever Olympic Medal at the London Games

London Olympics 2012

Don’t cry for Juan Martin del Potro Argentina…

Following a heartbreaking, hard-fought loss to world No. 1 Roger Federer in the semifinals, del Potro has claimed his first-ever Olympic medal.

Juan Martin del Potro

Del Potro, the world’s No. 9 ranked player, pulled out all the stops to defeat world. No. 2 Novak Djokovic of Serbia to win the bronze in men’s tennis on Sunday at the 2012 Olympic Games.

He needed less than two hours to dispatch Djokovic, winning the match 7-5, 6-4 to give his country its first medal at the London Games. Djokovic was the defending singles bronze medalist from the 2008 Beijing Games.

It was a far cry from the long hours del Potro put in on the grass courts at Wimbledon in his semifinal defeat on Friday. The match, a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 19-17 loss to Federer, lasted 4 hours, 26 minutes—the longest three-set men’s match of the Open era.