Serbian world No. 3 Novak Djokovic won a bronze medal for Serbia of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with a 6-3, 7-6(4) win over American James Blake on Saturday.

In celebration, Djokovic went down on his knees, tore off his shirt and threw it to fans in the crowd and proudly held up the Serbian flag.

"I think I've motivated myself a lot with this bronze medal. As I said, I played really, really good tournament from the start. I think I, as well, had good chances to win the semifinal match against Nadal," said Djokovic, who hit a smash long on match point in the semifinal against Rafael Nadal on Friday.

"Right now I just want to think about my medal and enjoy it, celebrate it, because I've put a lot of effort in it. And then, of course, we don't have much time for celebrations because the fourth and last Grand Slam of this year comes in a week time where I have to be well, so I can get really far."

Djokovic was on top of Blake from the outset, serving confidently enough to avoid being broken during the 76-minute match, having only offered his opponent one break opportunity in the second set.

The match was dominated by unforced errors, with Blake putting up 35 and Djokovic racking in 36.

The American surrendered his serve in the fourth game of the first set to lose momentum in the match early on.

The second set stayed on course until the tiebreaker where the 21-year-old Serb was able to take control when the American faltered.

"No physical fatigue. We're in good enough shape for that not to be a factor, but I think it's just tough mentally because for us we're kind of conditioned to play until we lose," said Blake.

"So for me, that was the toughest part, just turning around and being prepared after a loss. I'm sure it was the same for Novak. We both didn't start our best, and then we definitely got into it at the end. The tiebreaker was pretty high level. We had some good points towards the end of that set."

Source: Xinhua