On July 21 2012 10:53 Imbajoe wrote: does anyone know if they are using center court? I thought I heard years ago that playing on center court was reserved for The Championships Wimbledon, but if anything would be an exception to that it would be the Olympics
According to the wimbledon site centre court will be in use during the Olympics.
Damn. Pretty huge news that Rafa won't be playing. Really opens things up for Federer to take his career golden slam huh?
IMO, if Murray gets to the finals he will be really really dangerous. He would have to go through either Federer or Djokovic to get there. Going through Federer is possible because Federer has a lot of off days, but going through Djokovic (who is rock-solid even in losing, like in the wimby semis...though that's just imho again) would be even more incredible. We'll see what happens~~
I hope Federer takes this. And he have a good chance now that Nadal is out, but Olympic Tennis is played in 3 sets until finals which makes upsets more likely to occur. Like in 2008 when James Blake took out Federer in the Quarterfinals.
I think Djokovic is the favorite to win this time around because of his consistency. I think he is far less likely to be upset in a 3 setter compared to the likes of Federer and Murray, who both can have off days (Federer especially can easily lose 2 sets when he is off, but with 5 sets he usually take it anyways). I also think Murray will do good in this tournement, despite his loss in Wimbledon. It is Olympics in London, and him winning here would be as big as him winning Wimbledon for the British.
With Rafa out, Federer will show the confidence he just did in his win at Wimbledon (When Rafa went out in 2nd round to Rosol) and take the Olympic gold medal and prove he deserves the #1 he just reclaimed after so long.
On July 23 2012 11:43 MurDeRsc2 wrote: With Rafa out, Federer will show the confidence he just did in his win at Wimbledon (When Rafa went out in 2nd round to Rosol) and take the Olympic gold medal and prove he deserves the #1 he just reclaimed after so long.
Well, I can hope.
Getting the #1 title by going through No1e and Murray, coming back from a five-setter and an injured back to win the Wimbledon crown; riding a late streak last year after a heart-breaking loss in USO semis that included Paris and an undefeated WTF tournament; going on a 17-match win streak, etc etc...shows that he deserves the ranking imho. Especially with the top 4 of tennis at the moment, getting #1 is not easy by any means. Federer was always up there, just never managed to break through for that 17th title.
The last few times fed has played djokovic he's gotten the upper hand in the early sets, so in a bo3 situation I might even go as far as to favor fed in that matchup. Would be amazing if fed could win this one too, he deserves a gold medal on top of his major wins.
On July 26 2012 11:13 jeeeeohn wrote: I'm not a huge follower of tennis but I started watching the US and French Open, and I have to say I'm very excited for Olympic tennis.
Honestly, this ought to be the best Olympics so far for Tennis. The most iconic venue for the sport, virtually every (healthy) pros worth their salt will be there and Federer has a golden oportunity to scement his legacy by winning the only major title he lacks. Exciting stuff!
On July 20 2012 18:30 Asha` wrote: I think doubles players are pretty overrated nowadays, the playing field just isn't that great.
Give pretty much any combination of top 30 players a bit of practice for an event rather than hopping off the bus for a DC tie and deciding who's going to play with no warm up together and they'll go toe to toe with most dedicated doubles pairings.
The last 2 olympics were won by singles pairings, Fed and Wawrinka beat both the Bryan brothers and Paes/Bhupati when they did it in 08 and those are some of the most decorated players of the last decade in doubles. Meanwhile Massu and Gonzalez won in 04 and neither even play a type of tennis that's particularly good for doubles (again there were some good doubles specialists in the draw).
I'd be pretty surprised if the doubles doesn't get won by a traditional singles pairing again this year.
I wouldn't say any top 30 players. They have to have decent volley skills. For example, Djokovic is a bad doubles player, has subpar volleys and very little doubles game sense. His consistent strokes are not great weapons for doubles.
EPT
