Are we headed for a repeat of this year's historic Wimbledon at the Olympics?
It's sure looking good especially if the champs and finalists from that fortnight - Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Venus Williams, Serena Williams - keep their stellar form.
Here are the number of games these ballers have lost through two rounds:
Rafa - 13
Fed - 12
V - 10
ReRe - 6
Not bad...not bad at all.
Elizabeth Merrill for ESPN.com believes a Rafa-Fed gold medal match could legitimize Olympic tennis in the eyes of its own community and would most certainly pull the sport out from Olympic obscurity:
Federer and Nadal have a unique opportunity this week to help the Olympic cause. If the sport's two most dominant players can advance to Sunday's final, on the heels of their breathtaking match at Wimbledon, it would most certainly be a showcase event in Beijing.
My mouth is watering. And, even though a Venus-Serena gold medal match doesn't garner the same excitement and anticipation, the sisters could reign in three medals themselves since they're also competing in doubles. Nothing to argue about there.
Although it's too early in the tourney to say, I think it could be an incredible moment for the sport of tennis. Let's keep everything crossed.
(images via Getty)
I would be so happy if they would actually SHOW live tennis! If I see one more minute of beach volleyball while live tennis is going on via livescore, I'll lose my mind.
ReplyDeleteBring on a Wimbledon re-match...
I KNOW B2012!!!
ReplyDeletemy sig. other and i were just bitching about how much damn volleyball is on and how we're forced to watch it - well that and boxing on Universal. plus i can't watch online because i have cablevision and they suck - no partnership with NBC for the Olympics.
HOW DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE???!!! IT'S THE BIGGEST EVENT AND NEWSMAKER FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS!!!
Phew - got it out...
i finally saw some tennis albeit recorded today.
what can you do?
OMG!! I know what you mean about the online live coverage! I went there first day to watch and when I saw that cablevision wasn't a partner my head about spun completely around. Ridiculous...
ReplyDeleteI guess seeing live tennis in a couple weeks will make up for all this frustration!
live as in "in person" right? can't wait!
ReplyDeleteIndeed!!! :D
ReplyDeleteWell, I did manage to catch a snippet of the Blake-Guccione match a mere 12 hours later!
ReplyDeleteI haven't gotten to see the big guys play yet, but you're right Rich, those scorelines are looking pretty good.
I actually prefer watching online on NBC's site. I enjoy the peace and quiet.
ReplyDeleteDear God, no SW19 again. There were some nice moments, but, in reality, it was just really long. It was a rainy day on the East Coast, so there was nothing else better to do.
I don't see the general public waking up around 7 am to watch tennis.
It's a smaller picture and it does not always show center court. It's the same feed you see on NBC without the commentary.
ReplyDeletehttp://channelsurfing.net./
justin.tv has been hit-or-miss.
thanks for the tennis-watching links anon 5:58!
ReplyDeleteanon 5:56 - i agree with you to a certain extent. i also thought it was a long snoozefest until the finals but, really, it was worth the wait to witness that level of tennis and to see rafa take the crown in such dramatic fashion.
we can only hope we'll see something even approaching the men's final - not likely but one can dream...
Roger's slumping but we hope for something close to the Wimby final. Somehow we just know that if Rafa and Roger meets it'll be a spectacular event. Does that say more about blind faith as fans, or about their rivalry? I any case, I wish I didn't hope so much.
ReplyDeleteMy third world country coverage includes:
commercial breaks during LIVE opening ceremony,
women's weightlifting,
badminton (which my country excels in but I can't care less about),
women's volleyball, sand or no sand (I'm not that straight, but boy there's ALOT of volleyball going on)
Saw Rere's match yesterday, and there have been snippets of swimming and men's gymnast so.. Beggars can't be choosers. But if there is Rafa/Roger final and I don't get to watch it, please keep me away from sharp knives.
LOL!
ReplyDeleteTalk about crappy tv coverage. Over here in Austria they actually do not show thrilling Olympics highlights, but in what disciplines exactly we suck.
ReplyDeleteCoverage including:
- fencing
- gymnastics
- cycling
- badminton
- shooting (WTF? how is that a sport?!)
- ALOT of swimming (we don't suck so much there though)
- EVEN MORE volleyball on merely every surface there is
SNOOOOOOOZE. If they don't even show the main tennis matches (at least seminfinals, final) I'm going crazy here people!!!
Not another hour of airgun shooting, pretty please...
Oh, and on the actual topic: Of course a Fed-Rafa clash would be great and so thrilling to see what happends. On the other hand, another final would be nice for a change, too.
I'd be rooting for Rafa - Nalby or Rafa - Djoker.
OK I'm done now. :-)
Another thing: I just read that Rafa will play against Juergen Melzer next.
ReplyDeleteTeehee, sorry Juergen to not really be a partiot here, but you're going DOWN! :P
shooting is NOT a sport - c'mon! it requires skill, no doubt, but doesn't sport involve sweat of some kind?
ReplyDeleteyes, melzer is going down hardcore. i'm thinking we'll see a rafa-nole semifinal. that could be tricky for rafa so we'll see.
What about archery then?
ReplyDeleteI saw China vs Russia.. and they don't look like they're bathed in sweat lol.
I'd prefer Rafa to win the US Open. Does anyone think he wants this medal enough to work that hard to beat Djoko, should they meet in semis?
archery = not a sport!
ReplyDeletewhat should we call these skill-based activities e.g. archery, shooting if they're not sports???
rafa def wants the medal badly but so do the others. but can he beat nole on hard? don't know...he hasn't beaten recently and in fact has lost pretty easily to the serb on hard. but he has the confidence and it's the olympics so he'll be ultra-motivated but it's a toss up to me.
Shooting to me is nothing but shooting. Stuff like chess is a game. All. not. sports. And boring!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if Rafa can beat Djoko that easily on hard. We'll probably see...
BTW, a good thing about Melzer playing Rafa is that they'll probably show it live here - life's good again! :-)
Maybe we should call those "skills you can acquire" and be done with it :D I mean, seriously!
ReplyDeleteI know what you're saying Rich. The fact that Rafa beat Murray in Toronto, then lost to Nole in Cincy who was in turn beaten by Murray in the final, I don't know what to make of it. Rafa did get beaten easily by Djoko, did look like he struggled hard to bring his game against Djoko, and that is enough to make me a nail-biter during the US open I think.
Do you think it's all mental? Murray beat Djoko the week before and that brings confidence to his game, meanwhile Nadal does have a bad record against Djoko on hard and it brought his game down.. Oy! I have reached the limits of my mind.
i think for nole it's mental because he hasn't learned how to deal with the pressure in a positive way. he knows he can beat rafa on hard but the pressure got to him after he lost the few chances to take the no. 2 ranking. he didn't perform well during the summer until cincinnati.
ReplyDeleteand here it's all about pressure since they're playing for their countries + medals first and points second. no money to be made so it'll be interesting to see who can rise up and own the moment.
for some reason, i'm feeling like fed is beginning to turn a corner again. he's playing really well and his intensity is back and then some.
he could surprise everyone and take the gold. THAT would make the US Open a true nail-biter.