Joel got into a good rhythm and (I) just didnt feel like it was fair to pull him,

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Novak Djokovic shook his head and placed his palm over welling eyes on his way to the locker room after a first-round Olympic exit, devastated he might never realize his goal of adding a gold in singles to a substantial collection of Grand Slam titles.I mean, no doubt, its one of the toughest losses in my life, in my career, Djokovic said later, shaking his head and speaking in subdued tones. Not easy to handle.The Serb was hardly alone in his disappointment on Day 2 of the Rio de Janeiro Games: He was one of three No. 1 seeds to exit the tennis competition in a wild span of 12 hours.Djokovics 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) setback Sunday night was caused in large part by ferocious forehand after ferocious forehand from a resurgent Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina. That surprising result followed losses by the top-seeded duos of Serena and Venus Williams of the United States -- who entered their match with a 15-0 Olympic record and three gold medals as a pair -- in womens doubles, and Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France in mens doubles.The second-seeded mens doubles duo of Andy and Jamie Murray departed, too.Got to take it on the chin, said Jamie, the older brother of two-time Wimbledon winner Andy, and move on.Sunday began with 25 mph winds that delayed the start of play on eight of Rios nine tennis courts for about 2 hours, and then came so many startling outcomes.None was more significant than 2009 U.S. Open titlist del Potros victory over 12-time major champion and No. 1-ranked Djokovic in a thriller before a raucous crowd. The match concluded with both men, who are friends, wiping away tears after a lengthy, warm embrace at the net, during which Djokovic offered what del Potro described as really kind words.Del Potro has dealt with three operations to his left wrist that kept him off the Grand Slam circuit for 2 1/2 years, until Wimbledon last month, and even he acknowledged: I didnt expect to beat Novak tonight.Djokovic had won seven of their eight most recent meetings, and 11 of 14 overall, before Sunday. But this is the second time that del Potro came out ahead at an Olympics: He beat Djokovic to take the bronze medal in London four years ago.Representing Serbia means a lot to Djokovic, who led his country to a Davis Cup title and carried its flag at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Games. He did earn a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but to a guy with so much success, anything other than being the champion is not acceptable.There is still a shot at gold in doubles in Rio -- he and Nenad Zimonjic are into the second round -- but as for singles, Djokovic will be 33 by the time Tokyo hosts the 2020 Olympics.The wounds are still fresh, Djokovic said. But youve got to deal with it. Its not the first (or) the last time that Im losing a tennis match. But Olympic Games, yeah, its completely different.This comes a little more than a month after a third-round loss at Wimbledon against Sam Querrey of the United States, and could add to the sense that Djokovic is not as unbeatable as everyone was beginning to think he was when he won the French Open in June to become the first man in nearly a half-century to win four consecutive major trophies.With Djokovic out of the draw, 2012 gold medalist Andy Murray, who is seeded No. 2, becomes the favorite as he bids to become the first player to win consecutive Olympic singles titles. He won his opener in that event Sunday, 6-3, 6-2 against Serbias Viktor Troicki.Also chasing a repeat in singles: Serena Williams, who was the only No. 1 seed with a victory Sunday, albeit a patchy one, 6-4, 6-2 against Australias Daria Gavrilova in singles.Then Serena went back out on court to partner Venus, who has been ill and lost in singles on Saturday. They were beaten 6-3, 6-4 by the Czech Republics Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova.We played terrible, Serena said, and it showed in the results.A common theme on this day.After he and Jamie wasted five set points in the second tiebreaker of their 7-6 (6), 7-6 (14) loss against Brazils Thomaz Bellucci and Andre Sa, Andy said he would skip mixed doubles and let his brother play with Jo Konta.Ill concentrate on the singles now, Andy said. Ill get a day off tomorrow and recover. Its been a long day.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich There were two types of daily fantasy lineups last week: those that started Kyle Busch at Indianapolis, and those that didnt. I think it was split about 50-50.Busch led 149 of the 170 laps and was never really challenged for the win at Indy. In fact, for how dominant he was, I was surprised that he had only 48 fastest laps run (out of a possible 128, since only green flag laps are counted).On one side for the weekend, Busch was my best play both early in the week and post-qualifying. It was hard not to like him; he paced final practice and qualified on the pole in a track where passing is difficult, as was clearly evident if you watched the race.My other top high-cost pick, Carl Edwards, was running in the top five all day until he wrecked, setting a theme with my picks.In the mid-value, Kyle Larson finished in the top five for 45 points, second best in this salary class. Ryan Blaney wrecked. Ryan Newman, my honorable mention pick in that category, was in that same wreck.But I hope you stuck with me in my low-cost picks. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Clint Bowyer and Casey Mears were among the top-five points earners among drivers under $7,000.This week, NASCAR rolls back to Pocono, where they also raced back in early June. Dont let the triangular-versus-rectangular shapes fool you -- theres a lot in common with Pocono and Indianapolis. Both have long straightaways, meaning lots of horsepower is necessary to produce high speeds. Both have flat corners. In fact, one of Poconos three turns is actually modeled after Indianapolis.So that will mean this is the third time in an eight-race, two-month stretch that well race at this track type. So Im looking at high performers from those two races to really carry over.It looks as if this weekend will pick up with the recent Joe Gibbs Racing dominance. Although Kyle Busch is coming off a kick-butt kind of weekend, you wont see him below (spoiler alert) until he shows me in practice he has kicked some of his past Pocono issues. He has finished ninth or worse in five straight Pocono starts for a 23rd-place average finish.Here are my early picks, but check back affter Saturday qualifying to get my final picks and fades for the week.ddddddddddddIm starting my team withElsewhere in the Joe Gibbs Racing camp, Matt Kenseth?is coming off a runner-up finish at Indianapolis and a seventh-place finish at Pocono earlier this season in which he led 31 laps and had a race-high 22 fastest laps run.Over the past two seasons at Pocono and Indianapolis, Kenseth has a 4.6 average finish, and his 55.25 fantasy points per race leads all drivers. He has finished in the top seven in each of those races, despite starting anywhere from third to 23rd.Keep an eye on these fourMartin Truex Jr.: The Clam Prince finished eighth for 44.5 fantasy points at Indianapolis, but Im more interested in the 17 fastest laps he had, third best in the field and best among the drivers who didnt start on the front row. It continues a great run on these tracks for Truex, who won last year at Pocono and had 23 fastest laps in this race last year.Kyle Larson: Larson had a top-five finish in last Sundays race, one of the best-performing non-Gibbs cars. Larson now has eight career Sprint Cup starts at Indianapolis and Pocono, and he has finished in the top 12 in all of them. That gives him the third-best average points total, trailing only two drivers who didnt run all eight of those races.Greg Biffle: Biffle finished 26th at Pocono earlier this year, but he showed some speed with seven fastest laps run. In the previous seven Pocono races, he finished 16th or better, including a fifth-place finish in this race last year after starting 25th. Two years ago in this race, he had the same start and finish, averaging 60.9 DraftKings points per race.Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: Despite taking some damage at Indy, Stenhouse still finished 12th. Earlier this season at Pocono, he finished 15th after starting 25th, good for 39 points. In his first three seasons in the Cup Series, Stenhouse averaged less than 10 points per race on the long, flat tracks, but hes averaging 37.5 this season. ' ' '