Nadal and Lopez win the Gold Medal in the Men's Doubles for Spain

[britbox]

Photo by iShot71

Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez have secured the Gold Medal in the Men’s Doubles event at the Olympic Games in Rio, defeating Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau of Romania 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

The Spanish tandem’s hopes looked bleak in the third set as they were a breakdown before roaring back to win the last three games and secure the Gold Medal.



The gold medal represents a first Olympic success for Lopez, while Nadal adds to the singles gold medal he picked up at the Beijing 2008 Games.



Mergea and Tecau’s silver medal achievements represent the first medal by any Romanian in Olympic tennis history.

American pair Steve Johnson and Jack Sock defeated veteran Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil of Canada 6-2 6-4 to clinch the bronze medal.

Photo by iShot71

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[Moxie]

It was an excellent match. The Nadal/Lopez win was hard-fought. Congratulations to Mergea/Tecau for their historic tennis medal, too. Also happy for Johnson/Sock on the bronze for US.

 

[britbox]

Some Nice Pics...

 

[britbox]

Nice to see Lopez bag a medal too, it was his last chance I guess.

 

[britbox]

 

[Moxie]

Nice to see Lopez bag a medal too, it was his last chance I guess.

I didn't mean to over-state Rafa. I think Marc Lopez was part of the point of it. Nadal helped Lopez get a doubles career, but Marc has run with it. He has made his own fortune. He's an excellent doubles player, and deserves the medal.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Watching that match makes me once again think, that if the best singles players in the world actually dedicated themselves to doubles they would crush most doubles specialists.

 

[britbox]

Watching that match makes me once again think, that if the best singles players in the world actually dedicated themselves to doubles they would crush most doubles specialists.

I had similar thoughts after Fed and Wawrinka won in Beijing... still, I think you have to be a certain type of singles player and a decent volleyer.

 

[Carol]

This picture is priceless

 

[brokenshoelace]

This picture is priceless

Did anyone catch the sniper?

 

[brokenshoelace]

I had similar thoughts after Fed and Wawrinka won in Beijing... still, I think you have to be a certain type of singles player and a decent volleyer.

Agreed. I'm mainly talking about the very best singles player. It's striking how superior Nadal's groundies were, and they were doing their best to avoid going at him throughout. I could be wrong but I also don't think he got broken a single time all match. Moreover, they were really struggling to hit volleys off of his passing shots as it was clear they're not used to dealing with his spin at all. To put in perspective, the Roumanian team had 46 combined unforced errors. The Spanish team had 13. Not missing while managing to provide quality strokes is a big deal.

I think guys like Novak and Murray would be in a similar boat as well. Imagine what Novak's returning would do on a doubles court if he actually put in the time to be a better doubles player. Add in his court coverage and overall ground game and he'd be a terror.

And then of course there's Roger, who's, well, Roger.

 

[Carol]

Did anyone catch the sniper?

:lulz2:

 

[Tennis Fan]

This picture is priceless

I can't believe that I missed this match. Arrgh!

 

[britbox]

Marc getting in on the trophy biting act.