On August 06 2012 02:13 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:
Congrats to Murray... I wish Federer had won it, but he clearly didn't deserve the gold this time around.

Yeah, no kidding. That was actually sort of embarassing ._. Murray deserved that match 100%, and he showed it in straights.

Asha

United Kingdom38255 Posts

August 05 2012 17:24 GMT

#543

On August 06 2012 01:07 jeeeeohn wrote:
Why are people hating on the Olympics in this thread? How are the Olympics not important? How many people can say that they've won gold in tennis? That they represented their country and won? Like I understand if you're upset that Federer lost but that's no reason to think that this wasn't an important match for either player or unimportant for Great Britain. I mean, it's the damn Olympics. Federer obviously thought it was prestigious. There were some amazing and heartfelt performances during the tournament (Del Potro, Tsonga, that guy from Cyprus, etc.) and coming into this as a spectator has made me a fan of tennis for life.

"Not as good as a grand slam"? A gold medal in the Olympics? Jesus. People have killed for less.

I'm happy the tournament has made you a tennis fan for life, but you don't understand the relationship tennis has historically had with the Olympics if you think it is equivalent to any of the majors.

It has very little historical relevance given tennis was absent 64 years from the games till 1988. This means many of the greats like Borg, McEnroe, Connors etc never even had a chance to offer it some importance.

It's really only the last decade or so (thanks in part due to the ATP actually awarding a handful of points for it) that the top players have even bothered to show up reliably, in the past many players treated it like the Australian Open was once treated and just skipped it entirely (Sampras and Agassi only bothered to try for one etc).

It's also only bo3 format up until a bo5 finals, which makes it only slightly more competitive or impressive a win than one of the 9 masters 1000 events held each year. The issue of surface plays a part too since unlike the year round shift between clay/grass/hardcourt a four year gap means players can be screwed while at their best simply by the olympics being held on a bad surface for them (Murray probably wouldn't have even medalled if this was on clay for instance)

Maybe down the road it will be seen as being a similar achievement, but certainly right now almost every player would trade olympic gold for a grand slam in a heartbeat.

It's still 100% a great achievement for Murray of course, and hopefully he can use the confidence boost here to actually win a grand slam in the future.

BeaTeR

Kazakhstan4130 Posts

August 05 2012 17:26 GMT

#544

Kirilenko and Petrova take the bronze medal beating top1 pair in womens doubles Huber-Raymond.

Ovechkin is happy

Nos-

Canada12016 Posts

August 05 2012 17:28 GMT

#545

I really like Murray as a person as well as a player, and was always disappointed when he came up short in the grand slams. Good on him to win a medal in his home country!

qrs

United States3637 Posts

August 05 2012 17:34 GMT

#546

Rest of the second set stays on service and Belarus ties it up 1-1. Deciding set now.

Edit: looks like just a tiebreaker.

qrs

United States3637 Posts

August 05 2012 17:47 GMT

#547

Close one, but Belarus wins it 10-8 in the tiebreak round. Oh well.

Eufouria

United Kingdom4425 Posts

August 05 2012 17:50 GMT

#548

Not quite, but there's no shame in losing to an established doubles team in the final. Superhuman effort from Murray though, and I hope Laura Robson won't take this too hard, she's only 18 and this was by far the biggest match she's ever played so its only natural that she might struggle with the pressure a bit.

A gold and a silver is a good result, especially from 2 players who don't generally play doubles.

Mithriel

Netherlands2969 Posts

August 05 2012 19:30 GMT

#549

so sad Federer lost, just wanted him to win the last tournament he hadnt won yet!

But Murray was just unstoppable today!

Alethios

New Zealand2765 Posts

August 05 2012 22:45 GMT

#550

Urgh.

MooMooMugi

United States10531 Posts

August 05 2012 23:24 GMT

#551

Congrats to Murray finally winning on his home turf and making his country/queen proud

Kurr

Canada2338 Posts

August 06 2012 00:28 GMT

#552

On August 06 2012 04:30 Mithriel wrote:
so sad Federer lost, just wanted him to win the last tournament he hadnt won yet!

But Murray was just unstoppable today!

Yeah pretty bummed out too for Federer. I almost hope he play another 4 years and ends his career with an Olympic win but I doubt that will happen as I think he's 30 already. Who knows though, Tennis is usually seen as a sport with short careers but Federer seems to have avoided injuries that plague a lot of players and he's still on top of the tennis world right now.