Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Novak Djokovic came to the Tokyo Olympics aiming for a Golden Slam. He'll leave without a medal and will need some time to recover from a draining performance in extreme conditions that didn't meet expectations.
The top-ranked Djokovic lost his cool and abused his racket several times during a 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3 loss to Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain in the bronze-medal match of the tennis tournament on Saturday.
It was Djokovic's third defeat in two days and it came less than 24 hours after he was beaten by Alexander Zverev of Germany in the singles semifinals. That ended his bid for a Golden Slam, which is winning all four Grand Slam titles and Olympic gold in the same year.
"I just didn't deliver yesterday and today. The level of tennis dropped. Also due to exhaustion -- mentally and physically," Djokovic said. "I gave it all, whatever I had left in the tank -- which was not so much."
Djokovic's frustration was evident in his on-court behavior as the match wore on.
Having saved a match point in the second-set tiebreaker, Djokovic threw his racket over five rows of seats into the stands after he couldn't get to a stop-volley winner from Carreno Busta to conclude a long rally in the opening game of the third.
A couple of games later, when Carreno Busta had broken his serve to take control of the decisive set, Djokovic again lost his cool and slammed his racket into the net post during a change of ends. He then picked up the mangled racket and tossed it into the photographers' pit.
"It's part of, I guess, who I am," Djokovic said. "I don't like doing these things. I'm sorry for sending this kind of message but we're all human beings and sometimes it's difficult to control your emotions."
Djokovic received a verbal warning for the net-post incident, but Carreno Busta appeared to question the chair umpire as to why it wasn't a point penalty since it was the second instance of racket abuse. The umpire, however, hadn't warned Djokovic for the first incident.
Djokovic, who also lost with Serbian partner Nina Stojanovic in the mixed doubles semifinals on Friday, played a total of 16 sets over seven matches in four days.
He was due back on court later Saturday for one final match in Tokyo. He and Stojanovic were scheduled to face the Australian duo of Ash Barty and John Peers for the bronze medal in mixed doubles. But Djokovic withdrew from that match citing a left shoulder injury -- handing the bronze medal to Australia.
"I'm sorry to Nina for not being able to play but my body just gave up," Djokovic said, adding that he has "several" injuries. "I played under medicines, unbelievable pain and exhaustion."
As it's been virtually all week at the Ariake Tennis Park, heat was a major factor, with the temperature soaring to 90 degrees F (32 degrees C) and stifling humidity making it feel like 100 degrees F (38 degrees C).
Both Djokovic and Carreno Busta put ice bags on their necks during changeovers. Djokovic also grabbed a rubber tube blowing cool air and stuck it up his shirt.
Later, Belinda Bencic of Switzerland will play Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic in the women's singles gold-medal match.
Also, Laura Pigossi and Luisa Stefani of Brazil beat Russian pair Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Vesnina for bronze in women's doubles.
Carreno Busta will have to wait until Sunday to be awarded his bronze medal, after Zverev takes on Russian player Karen Khachanov in the men's final. That, of course, was the match that Djokovic came expecting to play in.
Djokovic won the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon this year and needed the Olympic and U.S. Open titles to complete the Golden Slam collection.
Steffi Graf in 1988 remains the only tennis player to achieve the Golden Slam. But Djokovic can still go after the calendar-year Grand Slam by winning the U.S. Open -- something no man has accomplished since Rod Laver in 1969.
The U.S. Open starts in a month.
Djokovic said he hoped that his efforts in Tokyo would not "create (a) problem" for him at the U.S. Open. He then added: "That's something that I'm not sure about right now."
Keeping his temper under control has been an issue before for Djokovic, who was disqualified from last year's U.S. Open after unintentionally hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball during a fourth-round match against Carreno Busta.
Carreno Busta went on to reach the semifinals of the U.S. Open for his career-best result at a major.
Now the 11th-ranked Carreno Busta has won an Olympic medal for another breakthrough moment -- a moment he cherished by falling down onto his back next to the Olympic rings printed on the court after Djokovic netted a forehand on the Spaniard's sixth match point.
Djokovic's only Olympic medal remains a bronze in singles from 2008 -- his first Olympics.
"I don't regret coming to (the) Olympics at all," Djokovic said. "Everything happens for a reason and (I've) had some heart-breaking losses at the Olympic Games and some big tournaments in my career. And I know that those losses have usually made me stronger."
The 34-year-old Djokovic said he would try to "keep going" through the next Olympics in Paris in three years.
"I know that I will bounce back," he said. "I will fight for my country to win medals."
------
Associated Press reporter Syd Fryer in Tokyo and Associated Press writer Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Serbia, contributed to this report.
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.