Rio Olympics Official Thread - Men's Tennis

[britbox]

what's YOUR feel for this Britbox?

close to the betting people's ?

it looks like that to me too - at least based on their present conditions.
with wawrinka out also - that is an important opening for even nole, andy and nadal - one less rival to worry about.

and there still seems to be no others that have the experience, achievement and , above all consistency and ability to 'raise the stakes'

compared to nole, andy and nadal (presuming all there are in fine physical shape).

nonetheless -- it's EXCITING To see that at least all three of them of the decade-long 'big four" are there.

My gut feeling is that Novak doesn't win it.

Sidenote: No reigning Number 1 has won the Olympic gold in the men's game.

 

[Carol]

Beautiful Opening Ceremony!

 

[teddytennisfan]

very nice pic -- very nice to see also GAEL doing so well lately! let's hope this amazing athlete -- just amazing -- really fulfill his potential even this late now.

i mean the guy is just probably one of the naturally phenomenally gifted athletes in the HISTORY of tennis, imo, he and TSONGA .

RAFA really gets DARK under the sun, doesn't he? it always look good on him.

 

[teddytennisfan]

My gut feeling is that Novak doesn't win it.

Sidenote: No reigning Number 1 has won the Olympic gold in the men's game.

oh my -- i never realized THAT about reigning number ones! my , my. Nole better NOT make a mistake when he plays!

 

[teddytennisfan]

ANDY Looked nice walking out with the flag!

 

[Carol]

very nice pic -- very nice to see also GAEL doing so well lately! let's hope this amazing athlete -- just amazing -- really fulfill his potential even this late now.

i mean the guy is just probably one of the naturally phenomenally gifted athletes in the HISTORY of tennis, imo, he and TSONGA .

RAFA really gets DARK under the sun, doesn't he? it always look good on him.

Yep, you can tell the sun likes him, I don't even been under the sun for weeks I can get that color, just red like an apple and many freckles

 

[Moxie]

My gut feeling is that Novak doesn't win it.

Sidenote: No reigning Number 1 has won the Olympic gold in the men's game.

Sidenote response: Only on a technicality in Rafa's case. From about August 1st 2008, (I'm pretty sure of that date) when Roger lost to Karlovic in Cincy, Rafa was guaranteed the #1. He won the gold on Aug.17th, and was ranked #1 on the 18th.

Djokovic will be the favorite, of course, and there is plenty of reason to think he'll win, if the pressure or a bad day don't get him.

 

[teddytennisfan]

Yep, you can tell the sun likes him, I don't even been under the sun for weeks I can get that color, just red like an apple and many freckles

which just reminds me -- since i was in St Petersburg , Russia, a month ago for 2 weeks -- in my hotel next to a river (there are a lot of rivers there with ferries and speedboats - that people love to have parties in , including LOTS of weddings, lol - rain or shine) -

for a whole week was a very, very large group of spaniards tourists. and the 2nd week , again more spaniards...i asked them during the all-morning buffet breakfast in the dining room - as they noticed i could understand some spanish ..we always took our time eating breakfast because there soooooooooo much food you can't really even taste everything at one sitting ...until you burst..and coffee there is ALWAYS espresso..none of that weak coffee anywhere in russia..when you order coffee - it's automatically ''espresso".

so some of these spaniards -- we'd sit together in a table and chat and laugh all the time with loads and loads of food and return trips to espresso! hehe.

and they said they go to russia everywhere all the time and it's one of their favorite places..

russians also like to go to spain and portugal , the russians told me.

so it's like a 'tit-for-tat'' it seems. lol.

 

[Carol]

which just reminds me -- since i was in St Petersburg , Russia, a month ago for 2 weeks -- in my hotel next to a river (there are a lot of rivers there with ferries and speedboats - that people love to have parties in , including LOTS of weddings, lol - rain or shine) -

for a whole week was a very, very large group of spaniards tourists. and the 2nd week , again more spaniards...i asked them during the all-morning buffet breakfast in the dining room - as they noticed i could understand some spanish ..

and they said they go to russia everywhere all the time and it's one of their favorite places..

russians also like to go to spain and portugal , the russians told me.

so it's like a 'tit-for-tat'' it seems. lol.

The spaniards like to go all around the world, wherever you go you are going to see them, in Patagonia, Egypt, Rusia, Alaska, wherever. One of my friends (he lives in Bilbao) has been in the 5 continents, he is an Encyclopedia, he knows everything about any country, the food, the culture, amazing!

 

[teddytennisfan]

The spaniards like to go all around the world, wherever you go you are going to see them, in Patagonia, Egypt, Rusia, Alaska, wherever. One of my friends (he lives in Bilbao) has been in the 5 continents, he is an Encyclopedia, he knows everything about any country, the food, the culture, amazing!

si interesting.

being that i am filipino --= philippines - named after spain's king philipp under the spanish empire...i've always been curious where in spain MY great-grandfather on my mother's side was from. because he was in the last decade of the spanish rule also the last governor in a southern province before the americans took over (after the USA ''Defeated spain" and took philippines along with puerto rico as ''trophies" (which is how many filipinos look at it, not as 'liberation by the USA From spain") -

and i always wondered if in spain family names are also sometimes according to their particular provinces -- like in one province a certain last name is more common than in others. that kind of thing.

i actually found out only recently that spain actually has a special law or something that gives automatic citizenship to filipinos , of course if the person requests for it. but no one really uses that. probably a 'left-over' from spanish colonial times matters.

but one of the strangest things , and to me, quite sad:

was also in those final years of spain in the philippines - the Russian czar requested for spain to allow russia to open an embassy in the philippines for trade, and relations...and spain granted that request -- and then the americans came - and not only spain but russia was kicked out and the relation never grew or recovered from what had begun as a good relation where russians had already left some artistic and cultural relations.

the americans basically wanted the archipelago all to themselves -- same as today.

and i really resent that. whatever the spaniards did that were bad -- they DID assimilate with the native culture and enriched it , imo.

but not the americans -- they go there and are ''separate" like in a 'privileged' place of their own...the same way they treat puerto rico -or did in cuba and again today.

i remember long ago visiting puerto for a week -- and of course not really speaking spanish but just from our classes long ago in spanish in the philippines and just my memory of how the ''older folks" spoke spanish (my mom and their parents) -

at the end of the week -- i started to speak slowly in spanish ..because the puerto ricans teased me "if you want to eat -- you have to speak spanish!! mi hijo!! " hehe. and i was so shocked at how similar we were - from food to habits...the open friendliness...

and realized the one thing in common -- was the spaniard in us.

 

[Moxie]

Teddy, you can sometimes recognize Spanish family names by provinces. Depending on how generic they are. But no matter how much across dialects, I don't find Spanish changes that much.

 

[teddytennisfan]

Teddy, you can sometimes recognize Spanish family names by provinces. Depending on how generic they are. But no matter how much across dialects, I don't find Spanish changes that much.

thanks for that suggestion. Moxie.

it seems that the spaniards applied something like that in the philippines colony...by renaming natives to take spanish names based on ''proximity..:"

so - in my country - at least the ''old families" whose bloodlines like mine had quite some actual spanish in it, that also happened to live as native clans in particular areas - were just named a certain spanish surname ...

so the family of my father's side had a certain spanish surname based on the fact that the extended clan itself was of course ''near each other" ..and my mom's side the same way in their own region...and a certain region would have its families under a certain letter of the alphabet...

all J's would be more or less ''related" -

jaro, jara, starting their family names and ending differently but all somehow distant relations ''from a town" so and so.. etc...

lopez,

but my mom's mother's maiden name - being that my grandmother was the daughter of a spaniard directly from spain would have carried HER spanish father's name starting with H - which was Heras IN spain. and SHE was definitely very ''spanish" (at least to us there) in her ''etiquettes" and we all grew up always being very ''well-behaved" around her..

so i always wondered which part of spain that kind of name was common in those times IF it reflected the way the spaniards applied it in the philippines..u know... their spanish habit of naming names within a region.

like the way italians do


di Lucca -- could mean someone 'of Luchese region".
di Toscani -- someone ''of tuscany region'.

but then -- humans really did that sort of thing, names often originally referred to ''/where the person is from". i suppose every culture really has that..it just seems a natural human instinct or way of language
that answers the basic questions of life;

"who are you, where are you from?"
''i am marco di polo" ..of this or that family of this or that town and region...etc...
i'm always fascinated by names..to me they are like a key to a story waiting to be explored.

it's interesting, isn't it?

 

[teddytennisfan]

Teddy, you can sometimes recognize Spanish family names by provinces. Depending on how generic they are. But no matter how much across dialects, I don't find Spanish changes that much.

on the RIO TENNIS..

DO we know or have the info on the tennis schedules? the rounds?
gotta try and keep up with those . i'm trying to see what the TV schedules are like and what time slots and which channels. and probably different countries have different emphases on which sports depending on what their teams bring in the competitions.

 

[teddytennisfan]

My gut feeling is that Novak doesn't win it.

Sidenote: No reigning Number 1 has won the Olympic gold in the men's game.

do we have match brackets on the tennis anywhere, Britbox? or maybe go to the olympics website for their schedules , match-ups , rounds, tv or online broadcast, etc?

we don't want to miss TENNIS!!!

 

[teddytennisfan]

do we have match brackets on the tennis anywhere, Britbox? or maybe go to the olympics website for their schedules , match-ups , rounds, tv or online broadcast, etc?

we don't want to miss TENNIS!!!

OK -- AT least we know today -- saturday -- doubles and singles first round in the afternoon -- around 5 PM - i would imagine based on RIO time zone. !!

better check how tennis channel covers it if they are licensed!

 

[britbox]

do we have match brackets on the tennis anywhere, Britbox? or maybe go to the olympics website for their schedules , match-ups , rounds, tv or online broadcast, etc?

we don't want to miss TENNIS!!!

Draw:

TV Viewing:

TV: Olympic Tennis

Match Schedule:

http://www.rio.itftennis.com/olympics/schedule

 

[teddytennisfan]

THANKS!! BRITBOX!!!

 

[britbox]

Saturday Schedule:

 

[teddytennisfan]

THANKS!!!

 

[britbox]

OK -- AT least we know today -- saturday -- doubles and singles first round in the afternoon -- around 5 PM - i would imagine based on RIO time zone. !!

better check how tennis channel covers it if they are licensed!

Are you getting free to air Olympic coverage in the States?