A lot has happened mid-season in the Tennis world as expected, considering that it is an Olympic year – the story or stories however are usually in the prep and post events of the games. Without a doubt, Juan Martin del Potro took his fans along for his incredibly breathtaking and fairy-tale ride as well as captured new hearts in Rio…certainly when he defeated the man who had all the pressure in the world going into Rio (on whether or not he would be able to complete a career Golden Slam) Novak Djokovic 7-6(3) 6-4 in the first round of singles play.
The two have enjoyed intensely long and entertaining battles in the past when the Argentine was fit and healthy, and early on in their match in Rio, it sure did appear as though del Potro was there to match Djokovic ball for ball so as to avoid being out there for too long.
His forehand is still his go-to-shot when on the attack. It is powerful and penetrating! Coupled with his first serve, it can cause a number of problems for the elite in the men’s game; as it did for the Serbian world no. 1 on the day; former world no. 1 and Olympic Gold medalist Rafael Nadal would soon be on the end of it as well.
Del Potro beat Nadal with the score line 5-7 6-4 7-6(5) in the Semis. It really was that victory that made del Potro more of a believer in himself and what he can achieve since being back on Tour. Nadal reckoned that match was played at a very high level by both he and del Potro…it often goes that way in Tennis, there has to be a winner and a loser.
Of course del Potro was spent when competing for the Gold medal against a player who lives out stamina to the T on court Andy Murray; not only because of the opponents he faced en route to the Final, but arguably largely due to the fact that his body had not been under that kind of physical, emotional and mental stress in a considerable while. Murray won two consecutive Gold medals (which was historical, particularly for a Brit), still; del Potro fought and lived for 4 hours on court.
If some imagined Murray had had an easier road to the last day of action in the men’s singles, that last day had to have made up for it. Del Potro kept on leveling in sets, rallying back in the ongoing match, which made the spectators extremely nervous for Murray (that things may very well go the other way) and on the other hand, they looked forward to the final sealing a happy-ending to the former top-tenner’s fairy-tale campaign…the happiest! But it was not to be.
In the women’s singles, Mónica Puig stunned everyone by beating favourite and experienced campaigner Angelique Kerber of Germany for the Gold! The 22 year old Puerto-Rican displayed gutsy play to savour each moment. She was on the big stage! She had the platform; and she was hungry to shine for her island (who had never before known that many female medalists at the games – more to the point, it had never known any Tennis athletes in this way and at that level).
Marc López and Rafael Nadal won Gold for Spain in the men’s doubles and the popular Russian duo Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina (who tied the knot during Fed Cup action at the tail-end of last season) took home the Gold in the women’s doubles.
Vesnina has recently just suffered a loss at the hands of Elina Svitolina (who is seeded 10th for the event in Connecticut – The Connecticut Open) after having gotten passed the feisty Italian Camila Giorgi and the Estonian Anett Kontaveit (by retirement) en route to her Quarter-Final match versus Svitolina. Backtracking a little…Marin Čilić(12) may not be the new boy in town by any means as far as the Tour-level matches are concerned, but he is the new boy in town at Masters 1000 level. The Croat, who has improved on areas such as movement on court in previous seasons as well as his serve; when coming to using it more on occasion as a weapon, won his matches against Tomáš Berdych(6), the unseeded Borna Ćorić and Grigor Dimitrov, before setting up an encounter versus an in-form Murray in the Final of the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati.
He won in straight sets 6-4 7-5. It will be interesting to see how he dishes his game to the opponents he will face at the Open with this current wave of confidence he is under.
Murray was the top seed in Cincinnati due to Djokovic’s absence – time will tell how both Djokovic and Murray will present themselves at the last Major event. There are talks around Murray’s fatigue and the amount of tennis he has played and Djokovic’s wrist and mental state…but knowing these two, especially Djokovic on bouncing back as if nothing alarming happened; the Open should be tasty!
Other players to look out for at the Open include Serena Wiliiams, Kerber, Simona Halep, del Potro, Nadal, Kei Nishikori, Jack Sock, John Isner, Stanislas Wawrinka, Petra Kvitová and Eugenie Bouchard.
