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Rafael Nadal criticises Novak Djokovic for Olympics meltdown: ‘It is strange that he behaves this way’


Rafael Nadal has criticised Novak Djokovic for his ‘strange’ Olympics behaviour and has urged the Serbian to be a better role model in tennis.

Djokovic had a bit of a meltdown in his Olympics bronze medal match defeat to Pablo Carreno Busta, throwing a racket into the empty stands before smashing another.

Afterwards, he admitted he was unhappy with his own behaviour and said: “I am sorry for sending this kind of message.”

Those sentiments have now been echoed by Nadal, who has urged Djokovic to be more mindful of the example he sets.

Asked about the incident ahead of the Citi Open, Rafael Nadal said: “Luckily there were no people in the stands and nothing else happened, but hey, they are things that happen from time to time.

“You have to try to avoid them. The image is not the best.

“It is important to avoid this, especially as a role model for many children. He is the number one in the world and one of best in history.

“It’s strange that someone so successful reacts this way from time to time, but in the end he’s very competitive and reacts like that.”

Stream every unmissable moment of Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 live on discovery+, The Streaming Home of the Olympics.

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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.