Is 2016 Olympics on Clay?

[Front242]

RE: 2016 Clay Olympics

Well, he'll be 31 then but like Karlovic, as his serve is such a weapon, he could win matches serving well even at 40 so I'm sure if he feels he has a chance, he'll play. He's been pretty crap at all the slams except the US Open where his best result was QF (2011). I think he'd take any decent wins anywhere at this stage.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

RE: 2016 Clay Olympics

According to tennis.com article, Rafa is quoted as saying the following.

“The fact that the Olympic Games will be on clay gives me a little bit of extra motivation. Representing my country at an Olympic Games, at Beijing 2008, was one of the greatest moments of my career.”

Note that Rafa does not say he wishes, hopes, wants it to be on clay. He says it as a
matter of fact. Assuming nothing is lost in translation, it appears that It is going to be
on clay. However, funny thing is that I have been following this for a long time and
until this statement by Rafa, I thought it is still undecided.

I actually read the tender notice which gives specifications of the courts and arena
etc for 2016 Olympics and it clearly says, it is up to the builders who are applying to
specify what surface they will be laying out in the arena. After receiving the tenders
from different builders, they were planning to make a decision. I never saw any
official notification that it is confirmed to be on clay.

The only thing on which I based was Rafa's statement.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

RE: 2016 Clay Olympics

Can someone who knows Spanish translate Nadal's statement on Olympics surface
properly. I am giving a link below. If you follow that link, there is pre-tourney presser
given by Rafa in Rio. He speaks in Spanish for most of the time and in English for
the last one minute or so. The comment about Olympics is in Spanish.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2014/02/7/Rio-de-Janeiro-Nadal-Preview.aspx

 

[GameSetAndMath]

RE: 2016 Clay Olympics

Factoid: Olympics has been held on Grass 7 times, Hard 5 times, Clay once and
unknown surface once. The only time it was held on Clay was in 1992
Barcelona Olympics. Too bad, Rafa was 5 years old then.

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

RE: 2016 Clay Olympics

when was it said that 2016 Olympic tennis was on clay ?..apart from on planet rafa I mean.

 

[Moxie]

RE: 2016 Clay Olympics

Can someone who knows Spanish translate Nadal's statement on Olympics surface
properly. I am giving a link below. If you follow that link, there is pre-tourney presser
given by Rafa in Rio. He speaks in Spanish for most of the time and in English for
the last one minute or so. The comment about Olympics is in Spanish.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2014/02/7/Rio-de-Janeiro-Nadal-Preview.aspx

He doesn't talk about the Olympics in the Spanish portion, or the English one. I followed the link to the Brazilian website, which is supposed to be the genesis of his remark, and nothing. I have found no quote, other than the tennis.com one, in Spanish, Portuguese or English, of Rafa saying that the Olympics will be played on clay. I'm with you, GSM…I took that quote on face-value. But I can't find any validation for a direct quotation. Tennis.com seems to be making it up, once again.

Like you, and LB, I've been trying to figure out what surface Rio is going to commit to for the Olympics. They have been very coy on their website. Maybe Rafa is in Rio to push them for clay.
It would serve their purposes to argue for a MS1000 in Rio, if they had great clay courts, but they could put in HCs, and convert them later. (The closest I can get is that the rio2016 website has links to clay practice courts.)

 

[GameSetAndMath]

RE: 2016 Clay Olympics

It is not just tennis.com. The ATP world tour article also attributes a similar or same
statement to Rafa. That one is also in quotes. I posted the link earlier (the one
with the video).

 

[GameSetAndMath]

RE: 2016 Clay Olympics

According to reliable internet sources, the construction of the Olympic tennis facility is
to begin in 2013 and the facility should be available for use starting in 2015. This would
mean that they would have already given the contract for development of the facility
to some body and so definitely it should no longer be a mystery as to what will be the
surface. Having said that, nobody seems to know it for sure except for Rafa.

 

[Moxie]

RE: 2016 Clay Olympics

^I don't fault you for quoting those sites which "quote" Rafa. And believe me, I'm hoping that 2016 Rio will be played on clay. But not being able to get to the bottom of an original quote, and because the rio2016.com website is still noncommittal, I'm not willing to believe that we have the final answer.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

RE: 2016 Clay Olympics

I too have some doubts as to whether it will be on clay. The dates of Olympics
is set for Aug. 5th to Aug. 21st. Even if they do tennis at the very beginning.
It will end by Sunday, the 14th of Aug. The US Open starts on Monday, the
29th of Aug. So, basically there will be exactly two weeks between Olympics
and start of USO in the best case and just one week in the worst case
(if the play tennis later ending it by 21st Aug.).

I doubt whether the players would want to switch from Clay to Grass and
then again back to Clay for Olympics and then back to Hard for USO.

Scheduling will be a mess. I think Washington DC and Canadian Masters
will be washed out.

I am beginning to get the feeling that despite Rafa's quote, the Olympics
will probably be in hard courts only.

 

[Moxie]

RE: 2016 Clay Olympics

All good points, GSM, but, at the same time, the Olympics will always be disruptive to the tennis calendar, and when would it ever make more sense than in Rio to play on clay? It makes sense for Rio to build the preeminent clay venue in South America, for their potential eventual bid to have a MS 1000 there. That doesn't mean they won't install HCs, and then tear them up and put in clay ones, however. There are clay tournaments after Wimbledon, so it's not impossible to have tune-ups. And the switch from clay to grass (RG to Wimbledon) has been historically short, so it's hard to feel that bad for the players if they have to do it, between Olympics and the USO.

 

[masterclass]

RE: 2016 Clay Olympics

GSM, I just wanted to agree with what Moxie said about not being your fault for quoting tennis.com or the ATP. They, especially the ATP, should support their statements. For all I know, the ATP got their story from tennis.com.

I have seen no video interview or transcript that says what those sites said. But the lack of documentation about it doesn't mean it didn't happen. But as I said earlier, I can't substantiate it, and won't believe much until I see the Olympic site or someone in authority there publish it.

Here is the Olympic site's story about Rafa and the Olympics. Notice it says almost everything the other does, except, it doesn't mention the bit about clay.

The top players schedule will certainly be tricky that year.

Most of them usually play at Wimbledon which will end in early-mid July, then usually take about a month off and then play the Canada Masters, followed by the Cincinnati Masters, and then a week off until the US Open.

The 2015 schedule has them playing on grass at Wimbledon from June 29- July 12, then to the North American hard courts, with the Canada and Cincinnati Masters back-to-back, starting Aug 10-16, and then Aug 17-23, with the US Open starting Aug 31.

I have no idea what they'll do in 2016. I haven't found anything official regarding a 2016 schedule.
But with the Olympics in play Aug 5-21, something has to give. My guess is that they will shift Can-Cin earlier, to Jul 18 and 25, which might give around a week between the end of Cincy and the Olympics. But then that would mean Wimbledon has to finish by July the 3rd or 10th at the latest, giving them a maximum of two weeks off after Wimbledon and a minimum of a week. It also means that Wimbledon would have to start earlier, which might jeopardize the gap between Roland Garros and the new lead up grass tourneys. So it will certainly be a tight schedule..

To ask the players to shift quickly from hard at the N.A. Masters to clay at the Olympics, and then quickly back to hard at the US Open might be a tough sell. Not saying they wouldn't or couldn't do it, but quality might suffer. But who knows what they'll do? It's still 2+ years away.

Respectfully,
masterclass

 

[August]

RE: 2016 Clay Olympics

I don't see Wimby being pushed back by one week. The 2015 calendar has already dropped the post-Miami DC QFs, and obviously has them in Newport's week. The Olympics are Aug 5-21, yet according to candidature file, tennis will be 6-15 Aug (a Monday final :huh. If the USO has its usual date, there will be one week after the Olympics and two after the Olympic tennis, which seems problematic. Beijing was played between the N.A. Masters and the USO but then the USO began after the Olympics 2nd (non-tennis) week. So the schedule for the 2016 summer would be:

Wimby
Newport/DC QFs
Toronto
Cincy
Bogota, etc
Olympics, Atlanta
Washington, etc, Olympics' 2nd (non-tennis) week
Winston-Salem
USO

I don't know how they are going to deal with that mess. I'd have tennis in the Olympics' 2nd week, then the schedule would be:

Wimby
Newport/DC QFs
Bogota, etc
Toronto
Cincy
Atlanta, Olympics 1st (non-tennis) week
Olympics, Washington
Winston-Salem
USO

Or they'll just move the USO one week ahead, having Olympics just before Toronto.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

RE: 2016 Clay Olympics

I don't see Wimby being pushed back by one week. The 2014 calendar has already dropped the post-Miami DC QFs, and obviously has them in Newport's week.

Some of your statements are plain wrong. The DC QF is indeed in the week after Miami.
They plan to continue to keep it that way.

The DC 1st round is week after AO, QF is a week after Miami, SF is a week after
USO and F is a week after WTF. This is the thing that players agreed with ITF after
crazy scheduling for a long time which affected top player participation in DC.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

RE: 2016 Clay Olympics

All good points, GSM, but, at the same time, the Olympics will always be disruptive to the tennis calendar, and when would it ever make more sense than in Rio to play on clay? It makes sense for Rio to build the preeminent clay venue in South America, for their potential eventual bid to have a MS 1000 there. That doesn't mean they won't install HCs, and then tear them up and put in clay ones, however. There are clay tournaments after Wimbledon, so it's not impossible to have tune-ups. And the switch from clay to grass (RG to Wimbledon) has been historically short, so it's hard to feel that bad for the players if they have to do it, between Olympics and the USO.

1. Yes, I do agree with Olympics always messes up the schedule independent of surface
issues.

2. Many players (usually not the top ones) already participate in several clay tournaments
after Wimby and before USO and so I guess, it is not all that a big deal to have Olympics
on clay in between Wimby and USO.

I just wish the Rio folks come out and tell it as it is.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Somebody has waaaay to much time on their hands, to be wondering about the Olympics, already...

I guess that would be Rafa.

 

[Kieran]

Somebody has waaaay to much time on their hands, to be wondering about the Olympics, already...

I guess that would be Rafa.

If he's the one who started the thread, I guess you're right...

 

[herios]

it is to far away to even think about.

But, this is February; you can think about anything.

watch the WINTER Olympics mate, plenty of stuff to do than to guess the future.

 

[August]

I don't see Wimby being pushed back by one week. The 2014 calendar has already dropped the post-Miami DC QFs, and obviously has them in Newport's week.

Some of your statements are plain wrong. The DC QF is indeed in the week after Miami.
They plan to continue to keep it that way.

The DC 1st round is week after AO, QF is a week after Miami, SF is a week after
USO and F is a week after WTF. This is the thing that players agreed with ITF after
crazy scheduling for a long time which affected top player participation in DC.

Sorry, meant the 2015 season. Check the calendar in masterclass' post, you see blank rows between Dubai and IW, a blank row on Newport's week, a blank row after the USO, and a blank row after the WTF. I guess those are the DC weeks as there's no mention about the DC otherwise.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Sorry, meant the 2015 season. Check the calendar in masterclass' post, you see blank rows between Dubai and IW, a blank row on Newport's week, a blank row after the USO, and a blank row after the WTF. I guess those are the DC weeks as there's no mention about the DC otherwise.

You are right about the 2015 season. They have changed the schedule for 1st Rd and
QF. 1st round is going to be in the week before IW and QF in parallel with Newport. They
are leaving it out as these are not ATP events (but same is true for Grand Slams, but
they would not leave them out in the calendar, hypocrites).

They are not going to push Wimbledon back in 2016. After all it is getting postponed
only in 2015. They would not such crazy things. The post-Wimbledon tournaments
will suffer due to Olympics. It had always been like that.