JUAN Martin del Potro has sent Novak Djokovic from the court in tears after knocking the tennis giant out of the Olympic contest in straight sets.

Del Potro defeated Djokovic, 7-6(4), 7-6(2) in the first round, sending the top seed crashing out of Rio.

media_camera Argentine's Juan Martin Del Potro had a less-than-ideal lead-up to his Rio clash with Novak Djokovic.

A top seed hasn’t won the men’s singles tennis at an Olympic Games since Andre Agassi claimed gold in Atlanta in 1996.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for del Potro though.

Earlier on the day his build-up to the blockbuster clash against Djokovic came to a grinding halt when he was stuck in a lift for 40 minutes.

media_camera Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, crashed out of the Olympics in the first round.

The giant Argentine was marooned in the lift after a power outage in the block of the athletes village where the country’s Rio squad is based.

Del Potro’s media representative Jorge Viale posted a picture of 2009 US Open champion Del Potro sitting ruefully in the corner of the elevator, waiting for the problem to be fixed.