RIO OLYMPICS 2016

[Front242]

Did they not dry the court at all after the rain shower?

 

[El Dude]

The field seems to be somewhere between an ATP 500 and an ATP 1000 - maybe a weaker Masters.

Anyhow, I might be the only Fedfan who wants Rafa to win the gold. Why, you ask? Well, I'm a tennis fan before I'm a Roger fan, and I just like the idea of Rafa claiming the unique distinction of having two gold medals. It would be a nice little accomplishment in the latter days of his career.

 

[Carol]

Rafa/Lopez have won their first doubles match 6-4 6-4 :clap

 

[Carol]

I don't know if this looks like a ATP 500 or ATP 1000 but I can say that out of Zverev (Montecarlo) and Querrey (Wimbledon) Novak has not had in the last GS one opponent that plays so well like Delpo tonight even that he is not playing his best. Berdych, Raonic and Nishi together don't make one good player (Muzz sometimes) and Novak has knew to take a good advantage of it

 

[Carol]

Congrats Delpo, well played and deserved win even without doing any ace! :clap

 

[El Dude]

Well, that's that.

 

[rafanoy1992]

Great match from Del Potro! He literally took out Djokovic with those missile forehands. Djokovic was so hesitant to hit the ball hard because he was so afraid of the Del Potro forehand. Also, I was pleasantly surprised that Del Potro hit some two handed backhands in the match. I think that was important because it kept Djokovic honest and he was able to set up his forehand properly.

As for Djokovic, I feel for him. He wanted to win the Gold Medal so bad and he lost in the first round to an amazing opponent today. I kinda knew before this tournament that the 2 out of 3 format will affect his chances of winning the gold as his opponents only have to play two great sets in order to win the match. Also, drawing Del Potro was bad luck even for him. One silver lining about this early loss is that he could concentrate on winning Cincy and the US Open unless of course he goes far in Doubles.

With Del Potro winning, the top half is completely wide open. Yes, I know Nadal is still in the draw I do wonder if rust will play a role in the upcoming matches. Also, I wonder if Del Potro can carry this huge momentum.

Side Note: Wow, I can't believe they put Del Potro tomorrow afternoon at Center Court before Nishikori. That is bad scheduling from the organizers. They should have Del Potro last in Center court because he played today and Nishikori played yesterday. Let's hope it does not affect Del Potro too much tomorrow.

 

[Busted]

I didn't get a chance to see that match, but congrats to DelPo. Nice to see him getting back into the mix. This makes the last 2 Olympics that he's thwarted Djokovic, but the whole thing with Nole crying as he left the court? Dawg...what's up with that? He's probably bumming to realize that he's undoubtedly going to end his career without winning a singles gold medal - the same as Roger. The chances of winning the gold medal at 33 in 4 years is probably pretty slim Oh well, he should buck up. Roger's out the rest of the year so maybe he'll finally win Cincinnati :snicker and be the first to win all 9 of the Masters events. And there's always the going for #13 at the US Open.

 

[Busted]

Great match from Del Potro! He literally took out Djokovic with those missile forehands. Djokovic was so hesitant to hit the ball hard because he was so afraid of the Del Potro forehand. Also, I was pleasantly surprised that Del Potro hit some two handed backhands in the match. I think that was important because it kept Djokovic honest and he was able to set up his forehand properly.

As for Djokovic, I feel for him. He wanted to win the Gold Medal so bad and he lost in the first round to an amazing opponent today. I kinda knew before this tournament that the 2 out of 3 format will affect his chances of winning the gold as his opponents only have to play two great sets in order to win the match. Also, drawing Del Potro was bad luck even for him. One silver lining about this early loss is that he could concentrate on winning Cincy and the US Open unless of course he goes far in Doubles.

With Del Potro winning, the top half is completely wide open. Yes, I know Nadal is still in the draw I do wonder if rust will play a role in the upcoming matches. Also, I wonder if Del Potro can carry this huge momentum.

Side Note: Wow, I can't believe they put Del Potro tomorrow afternoon at Center Court before Nishikori. That is bad scheduling from the organizers. They should have Del Potro last in Center court because he played today and Nishikori played yesterday. Let's hope it does not affect Del Potro too much tomorrow.

I don't feel bad for Nole. Roger's never won an Olympic singles gold medal either and he had to pull out of what was most likely going to be his last Olympics. Nole will at least get another chance in 2020 - regardless of how realistic his chances will be in 4 years. Some guys at just snake bit when it comes to the men's singles gold medal. Roger couldn't win it in his prime (or in 4 tries!) - and now Nole won't win in his prime either.

And yes, the scheduling sucks for DelPo. The good news is that he's playing someone he should be able to beat in his sleep - even if he hasn't to play all slice backhands.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

So, Is RAFA the only real man out there (at least from big four).

We have seend Fed crying (2009 AO), Andy crying (2012 Wimby) and Novak crying (2016 Rio). But, I can't remember Rafa crying publicly.

 

[rafanoy1992]

So, Is RAFA the only real man out there (at least from big four).

We have seend Fed crying (2009 AO), Andy crying (2012 Wimby) and Novak crying (2016 Rio). But, I can't remember Rafa crying publicly.

He did not cry publicly, GSM but he was teary eyed in some of the majors final ceremonies.

In 2007 Wimbledon final, he was close to crying on the ceremony but he held back. But you could see he was very teary eyed.

In the 2010 RG final, he actually cried but he covered his face with a towel.

In the 2014 AO final, he was teary eyed because he could not compete properly because of back injury.

In the 2014 RG final, he cried after receiving the trophy.

 

[sid]

Btw have you seen the pathetic field at the Olympics? And yet you say you can't win a gold medal by fluke? You can win because of the extremely weakened field for one thing and it's much easier to win than a slam because only the final is best of 5 unlike having to win 7 best of 5s in a slam. Keep dreaming that the Olympics is so hard to win.

Say 2 Djokovic it's a pathetic field at the Olympics?

The world number one, 29, was in tears as he left the court after the two-and-a-half hours match.

"This is one of the toughest losses in my career," said Djokovic, who was chasing a first Olympic title.

 

[Rational National]

So, Is RAFA the only real man out there (at least from big four).

We have seend Fed crying (2009 AO), Andy crying (2012 Wimby) and Novak crying (2016 Rio). But, I can't remember Rafa crying publicly.

You know that crying makes you no less of a man, right??

I am pretty sure every professional looking at mens mental health would agree that men being more in touch with their emotions and not artificial supressing them is actually an important and necessary thing....

I am sure there was tongue in cheek with the statement but I couldn't resist !

 

[Rational National]

After what we have seen I can't come on here and pretend that all of a sudden I get why Tennis is at the Olympics and it actually is very important. However, without being hypocritical, I probably under estimated how important it is to the players.

Perhaps its the every 4 years thing, perhaps its the national pride, perhaps its the scale of the whole event and the selfish sportsman inside all top athletes that wants to be part of it.

There is no doubt that the pride Rafa and Andy had being flag bearers allied to the elation/deflation for Delpo and Novak would point you to think that this means far far more than we give credit for

 

[El Dude]

It is an interesting thing, isn't it - very important to the players, but not so much in weighing historical greatness. If you look at the seven players who did win the Gold and compare them with seven contemporaries who didn't, you actually get a better list of players in the latter list:

Gold winners: Miroslav Mecir, Marc Rosset, Andre Agassi, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Nicolas Massu, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray

Others: Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic

This isn't to belittle the achievement, just to say that it has nothing to do with historical greatness.

 

[Backhand_DTL]

I didn't get a chance to see that match, but congrats to DelPo. Nice to see him getting back into the mix. This makes the last 2 Olympics that he's thwarted Djokovic, but the whole thing with Nole crying as he left the court? Dawg...what's up with that? He's probably bumming to realize that he's undoubtedly going to end his career without winning a singles gold medal - the same as Roger. The chances of winning the gold medal at 33 in 4 years is probably pretty slim Oh well, he should buck up. Roger's out the rest of the year so maybe he'll finally win Cincinnati :snicker and be the first to win all 9 of the Masters events. And there's always the going for #13 at the US Open.

It certainly showed that the Olympics mean a lot to Novak and having arguably lost his last chance to win a singles gold medal probably makes this a tougher loss for him than the one at Wimbledon for example.

Also if he would have won this match it's hard to imagine him not at least reaching the final as the next two matches should have been quite easy and by the quarter finals Novak has usually found a rhythm and is able to shift to a higher gear, so if that happened I don't think anyone in his half could have beaten him.

The problem was that his return was rather poor and the backhand down the line mostly absent but apart from that he played OK and competed well, so overall it wasn't a bad performance especially compared to other early round matches this year and it really was an unfortunate draw as I don't think any unseeded player other than Del Potro playing by far his best match in 2016 would have come close to defeating Novak playing at that level.

 

[Rational National]

It is an interesting thing, isn't it - very important to the players, but not so much in weighing historical greatness. If you look at the seven players who did win the Gold and compare them with seven contemporaries who didn't, you actually get a better list of players in the latter list:

Gold winners: Miroslav Mecir, Marc Rosset, Andre Agassi, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Nicolas Massu, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray

Others: Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic

This isn't to belittle the achievement, just to say that it has nothing to do with historical greatness.

Its just a different type of pressure and environment isn't it...

I will cite another Scottish sportsman, Colin Montgomerie, who never won a major championship yet when playing Ryder Cup in the team event looked unbeatable and technically played differently than when playing for himself (aggressive putting and a lot more focussed on mentally dominating his opponents). The opposite is true of Tiger Woods...

There is a little bit of that in Murray as well (Davis Cup and breakthrough Olympic Gold in London), and it would not surprise me if he goes on to win this tournament as well.

Plus as well we can't take a linear approach to determining what the Olympics means now vs. what it meant back in the day (I am not saying it meant more or less then but not sure we can assume that tennis Olympic gold has meant the same thing to everyone over the years)

 

[the AntiPusher]

I didn't get a chance to see that match, but congrats to DelPo. Nice to see him getting back into the mix. This makes the last 2 Olympics that he's thwarted Djokovic, but the whole thing with Nole crying as he left the court? Dawg...what's up with that? He's probably bumming to realize that he's undoubtedly going to end his career without winning a singles gold medal - the same as Roger. The chances of winning the gold medal at 33 in 4 years is probably pretty slim Oh well, he should buck up. Roger's out the rest of the year so maybe he'll finally win Cincinnati :snicker and be the first to win all 9 of the Masters events. And there's always the going for #13 at the US Open.

I disagree..djoker keeps himself in remarkable good shape.. I think he will have a legitimate chance to win a gold

 

[the AntiPusher]

Btw have you seen the pathetic field at the Olympics? And yet you say you can't win a gold medal by fluke? You can win because of the extremely weakened field for one thing and it's much easier to win than a slam because only the final is best of 5 unlike having to win 7 best of 5s in a slam. Keep dreaming that the Olympics is so hard to win.

Say 2 Djokovic it's a pathetic field at the Olympics?

The world number one, 29, was in tears as he left the court after the two-and-a-half hours match.

"This is one of the toughest losses in my career," said Djokovic, who was chasing a first Olympic title.

Congrats to JMDP
I would like to see the match.. Apparently JMDP made Novak uncomfortable today.. It amazes me that others players try to defeat Novak from behind the baseline. This is a surprise but we know the world's #1 will most likely be back and on top of his game in Cincy.

 

[Carol]

I don't understand why some people are surprised. We all know that Delpo was capable to beat anyone anytime but his wrists injuries didn't allow him to advance more, three surgeries and very long time out of the court. He didn't do well in the previous tournaments trying to get the rhythm and a good movement which for a person with that height doesn't have to be easy. But it's clear like crystal that the Olympics is VERY important for the players (and for their fans more than they pretend giving them a lot of motivation trying to materialize that dream named Golden Medal.
On the other hand we also know that nobody can keep that rhythm that Novak had in 2015 and this year even that he has won several tournaments thanks to the mediocre game of his opponents sooner or later he had lose like in MC and Wimbledon where the opponents played well and that's exactly happened yesterday even that the Delpo wasn't played his best, the match was tied but the Argentine made more winners numbers and less errors.
And yes! the men cry too, sometimes because the losses and sometimes because the emotional wins which is very understandable