The Olympics 2012 Thread

RosyLily

Thought the Olympics deserved a thread of its own...it only comes around every 4 years!:)

For the singles, the top 56 in the rankings qualify and it is limited to 4 per country. In the doubles, 24 teams automatically qualify- max. of 2 per country. Players in the top 10 can reserve a place provided they have a partner. Mixed doubles teams are confirmed at the Games.

Gold medallist in singles gets 750 (Men's) or 685 ranking points.

Wildcards have also been awarded...

Men's Singles
Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
Thomaz Bellucci (BRA)
Vasek Pospisil (CAN)
Somdev Devvarman (IND)
Adrian Ungur (ROM)
Blaz Kavcic (SLO)
Malek Jaziri (TUN)
Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)

Men's Doubles
David Nalbandian/Eduardo Swank (ARG)
Thomaz Bellucci/Andre Sa (BRA)
Juan Sebastian Cabal/Santiago Giraldo (COL)
Jonathan Elrich/Andy Ram (ISR)
Kei Nishikori/Go Soeda (JPN)
Horia Tecau/Adrian Ungur (ROM)
Nikolay Davydenko/Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)
Martin Klizan/Lukas Lacko (SVK)

Women's Singles
Alize Cornet (FRA)
Elena Baltacha (GBR)
Anne Keothavong (GBR)
Anna Tatishvili (GEO)
Ons Jabeur (TUN)
Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR)
Veronica Cepede Royg (PAR)
Stephanie Vogt (LIE)

Women's Doubles
Stephanie Dubois/Aleksandra Wozniack (CAN)
Chuang Chia-Jung/Hsiesh Su-Wei (TPE)
Alize Cornet/Kristina Mladenovic (FRA)
Laura Robson/Heather Watson (GBR)
Margalita Chakhnashvili/Anna Tatshivili (GEO)
Timea Babos/Agnes Svazay (HUN)
Rushmi Chakravarthi/Sania Mirza (IND)
Alona Bondarenko/Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR)

cgpg5

Looking forward to this and as good as a slam. This is obviously rising in popularity amongst players too(I believe Fish is the only one inside the top 20 not partaking). In the women's bartoli is inelligible.

Men's singles- impossible to call. We have 4 very genuine contenders in my eyes. Who'd bet against a nadal fed final? However Murray will be hurting from Wimbledon and will have the crowd while Novak can never be written off. No-one else has a realistic chance imo

Women's- I'd imagine we could well see a shock winner here. the women's game is open enough as it is. Don't think the scheduling will suit Serena if I'm honest. Impossible to call. Reigning champ Dementieva is gone so we'll have a new champ anyway.

Doubles- In mens, the most I'm looking forward to here is Isner/Roddick (hate to be returning against them!). Murray/Murray will be interesting as will USA team 2 (the Bryan's). I assume Troiski/Djok are together? They'll be very hard bet.
In the women's we may aswell give the Williams' gold now for USA. Think GB will surprise a few though and go far.
In mixed, I'd love to see A.Rod and Serena play together. Pity there'll be no Hingis/Fed that would've been epic! Murray/Robson will team up here too I assume as will Djok/Ivanovic?

All in all very much looking forward to it. The fact it's in sw19 makes it sweeter, although it'll be strange seeing the players not dressed in all white!

walshb

Best of 5 sets? To me this is every bit as big as a slam. More so for say Nadal and Novak. They have won slams, but never have they won an Olympic Gold medal.

cgpg5

walshb wrote: »

Best of 5 sets? To me this is every bit as big as a slam. More so for say Nadal and Novak. They have won slams, but never have they won an Olympic Gold medal.

Just seen that it is best of 3 until the final. Surely that opens up the possibility of a few shocks? I imagine that it is down to scheduling which is no doubt fairer. It'll make for more exciting play aswell arguably.

cgpg5

cgpg5 wrote: »

Just seen that it is best of 3 until the final. Surely that opens up the possibility of a few shocks? I imagine that it is down to scheduling which is no doubt fairer. It'll make for more exciting play aswell arguably.

On second thought will it really though? Djok dropped 1 set all tournament until the semi final, Murray never dropped two per match until the final and neither did Fed apart from that nightmare opening two sets v Benneteau. Even Ferrer and Tsonga only dropped 1 and 2 sets in total respectively on their way to the quarters and semis. The top players rarely drop two sets until the latter stages of slams.

Saying that though, no doubt the first to two will leave players (underdogs) going out with a complete different mindset and probably greater belief but overall it is still the big 4 for the semis imo

Rob2D

walshb wrote: »

Best of 5 sets? To me this is every bit as big as a slam. More so for say Nadal and Novak. They have won slams, but never have they won an Olympic Gold medal.

Nadal has a gold in singles from the last time.

cgpg5

walshb wrote: »

Best of 5 sets? To me this is every bit as big as a slam. More so for say Nadal and Novak. They have won slams, but never have they won an Olympic Gold medal.

Nadal won gold in singles in 08 btw!

Todd Gack

Federer has a gold from the doubles in Beijing but no singles title, it's his last shot so he'll be determined.

walshb

cgpg5 wrote: »

Nadal won gold in singles in 08 btw!

That shows how much interest I took in the tennis at Beijing. Just don't remember his name and gold medal ever been linked or mentioned. Thanks

BTW, I assume this tournament will be seeded?

cgpg5

walshb wrote: »

That shows how much interest I took in the tennis at Beijing. Just don't remember his name and gold medal ever been linked or mentioned. Thanks

BTW, I assume this tournament will be seeded?

AS far as I know the top 16 are seeded. I assume it'll go on rankings?

KINGVictor

cgpg5 wrote: »

Looking forward to this and as good as a slam. This is obviously rising in popularity amongst players too(I believe Fish is the only one inside the top 20 not partaking). In the women's bartoli is inelligible.

Men's singles- impossible to call. We have 4 very genuine contenders in my eyes. Who'd bet against a nadal fed final? However Murray will be hurting from Wimbledon and will have the crowd while Novak can never be written off. No-one else has a realistic chance imo

Women's- I'd imagine we could well see a shock winner here. the women's game is open enough as it is. Don't think the scheduling will suit Serena if I'm honest. Impossible to call. Reigning champ Dementieva is gone so we'll have a new champ anyway.



All in all very much looking forward to it. The fact it's in sw19 makes it sweeter, although it'll be strange seeing the players not dressed in all white!

Good analysis CPG5!

Totally forgot about Dementieva-she reminds me of Andy Murray- very pertulant, her mother went through hell at the box with the amount of abuse she recieved after her daughter lost a point.

Like you said, the men's category is very tough to call- Andy would have the Brits behind him again on home soil, Novak and Nadal will be seeking redemption and Roger would want to stamp his feet on Men's tennis and win the Olympics, which would probably be his last attempt. I doubt we would have a Rosol moment this time, so it will most likely be the top 4 in the semis; after that, it will be difficult to predict the outcome.

On the Women's side, Serena has the momentum but Sharapova will come out fighting , likewise Kvitova, Kerber etc.

Looking forward to it.

cgpg5

KingVictor made a good point in the "inbetween slams" thread that the top 4 in this olympics haven't changed since the last olympics. Fascinating alright. I'd almost wager Murray, Djok and Rafa will still be there or there abouts in 4 years time! Goes to show how good and consistent these guys are.

I think the olympics will be special as they're representing their countries too as well as playing for their own ranking points and the coveted gold medal. Nadal, Djok and Sharapova anyway are their respective countries' flag bearers while Fed was offered for the third games in a row but is reluctant to do so I believe!

What's also special is that the top players are all playing doubles, something we don't see in typical slams. This will be very interesting. It is the first year of mixed if I am correct? Cannot wait. Some very exciting potential partnerships, Berdych/Kvitova, Murray/Robson, serena/Roddick, Novak/Ivanovic, Clijsters/Malisse, Stosur/Tomic (Hewitt), Nadal/Garrigues off the top of my head would be epic!!

RosyLily

Such a shame that Hingis didn't want to be involved; her & Roger would have made a great team!!:(

Strangely, I'm really looking forward to what mixed doubles pairings will be. Berdych/Kvitova would be unreal! Big serves and groundstrokes; they'd be a dangerous combo.

Rumour has it del Potro & Dulko will team up.

Tox56

Providing Murray doesn't go into a slump again after losing a Grand Slam final, he has a very good chance here.

Not only does he have home advantage, he's obviously performed well on this surface recently, and I think the best of 3 sets plays into his hands against the Top 3. He can have trouble staying with them (physically and mentally) in best of 5, but he can produce the standard required to win in the shorter format.

jupiterjack

Nadal pulls out of the olympics due to injury,,

cgpg5

jupiterjack wrote: »

Nadal pulls out of the olympics due to injury,,

Does this mean that the top 8 will go up a seed and Delpo goes to 8? Shame would have been interesting to see how he bounced back.

This also now means we'll have two new gold medallists in the singles!

RosyLily

So sad to see Nadal have to withdraw. I thought he would have done well at the Olympics. Hopefully he'll be able to compete in Rio 2016. He'll be 30 then...might have one more Games in him.

Feliciano Lopez will take his place on the team.

RosyLily

Another player has withdrawn from the Olympics. Gael Monfils still hasn't recovered from the knee injury that has caused him to miss French Open and Wimbledon. Julien Benneteau will take his place.

Andrea Petkovic still hasn't recovered from her ankle injury. I think Mona Barthel takes her place.

Gisela Dulko confirmed on her Twitter that she would be teaming with Juan Martin del Potro for the Mixed Doubles.

Gisela Dulko ‏@gidulko
Playing mixed doubles with @delpotrojuan #London2012 looking forward to it !!! ☺

RosyLily

ITF has confirmed that Alona Bondarenko has withdrawn due to injury. Taking her place is Heather Watson.

ITF Olympic Tennis ‏@OlympicsTennis
Heather Watson confirmed for #OlympicsTennis singles after Alona Bondarenko withdraws from injury

cgpg5

RosyLily wrote: »

ITF has confirmed that Alona Bondarenko has withdrawn due to injury. Taking her place is Heather Watson.

Ah good stuff delighted for Watson. Sorry of course though for Bondarenko whoever she is!

Anyway only 5 days till the off, bloody can't wait. Draw on Thurs will be interesting. One less round than at W'don with only 64 players competing. My one hope is for a Murray/Djok semi would be epic!

RosyLily

TENNIS SCHEDULE

Saturday July 28
Men's Singles - 1st Round [Round of 64]
Women's Singles -1st Round [Round of 64]
Men's Doubles - 1st Round [Round of 32]
Women's Doubles - 1st Round [Round of 32]

Sunday July 29
MS - 1st Round [Round of 64]
WS - 1st Round [Round of 64]
MD - 1st Round [Round of 32]
WD - 1st Round [Round of 32]

Monday July 30
MS - 2nd Round [Round of 32]
WS - 2nd Round [Round of 32]
MD - 2nd Round [Round of 16]
WD - 2nd Round [Round of 16]

Tuesday July 31
MS - 2nd Round [Round of 32]
WS - 2nd Round [Round of 32]
MD - Quarter-finals
WD - Quarter-finals

Wednesday 1 August
MS - 3rd Round [Round of 16]
WS - 3rd Round [Round of 16]
Mixed Doubles - 1st Round [Round of 16]

Thursday 2 August
MS - Quarter-finals
WS - Quarter-finals
MD - Semi-finals
WD - Semi-finals
XD - Quarter-finals

Friday 3 August
MS - Semi-finals
WS - Semi-finals
XD - Semi-finals

Saturday 4 August
WS - Medal Matches
MD - Medal Matches
XD - Bronze Medal Match

Sunday 5 August
MS - Medal Matches
WD - Medal Matches
XD - Gold Medal Match

jupiterjack

world No. 17 Alexandr Dolgopolov did not play Davis Cup for his country was because of money. As a result, Dolgopolov was ruled ineligible for the Olympics.

KINGVictor

Apparently Andy Murray has been handed a very tough draw at the London Olympics, he faces Swiss Wawrinka in the opening round and could face Gasquet, Berdych and Djokovic to get to the Finals.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18994760

cgpg5

KINGVictor wrote: »

Apparently Andy Murray has been handed a very tough draw at the London Olympics, he faces Swiss Wawrinka in the opening round and could face Gasquet, Berdych and Djokovic to get to the Finals.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18994760

That's not too bad tbh, I think he showed at WImbledon he's well able to get over lower ranked players on this surface. Djok will no doubt be tough but I'm glad he got him over Fed

Rjd2

Stan is good on grass but he is in no sort of form at all these days, Gasquet he beats pretty regularly as well. Berdych is a threat but he wouldn't expect anything easy in a quarter final to be fair.

cgpg5

Love how the English (British!) papers are saying how tough Murray's draw is. Just like Wimbledon getting the excuses in early i guess. If Murray performs to 70% he'll make the semis. I don't care if it's first to 2 Murray didn't drop 2 once on his way to the final last month. I love how they're using Wawrinka being a gold medallist as a basis for him being a tough test. He was only playing with the greatest player ever. He is on horrendous form at the moment

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Berdych could be a threat, but then again he lost in R1 at Wimbledon this year, so I don't know. Federer once again has a walk in the park.

Tox56

cgpg5 wrote: »

Love how the English (British!) papers are saying how tough Murray's draw is. Just like Wimbledon getting the excuses in early i guess. If Murray performs to 70% he'll make the semis. I don't care if it's first to 2 Murray didn't drop 2 once on his way to the final last month. I love how they're using Wawrinka being a gold medallist as a basis for him being a tough test. He was only playing with the greatest player ever. He is on horrendous form at the moment

He's not on form, but when they last played at Wimbledon he took Murray to 5 sets. For a round 1 match, it does have potential for a banana skin. Representing your country like that can do strange things to people.

cgpg5

Tox56 wrote: »

He's not on form, but when they last played at Wimbledon he took Murray to 5 sets. For a round 1 match, it does have potential for a banana skin. Representing your country like that can do strange things to people.

Well that was in 09. Andy Roddick made the final that year a lot changes in 3 years. Murray is a better player since then and Stan is worse.

It will be interesting to see if there are any shocks but I think the top 3 in this are way too good to lose before the semis.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I fancy Tsonga as an outside bet, but he'll probably face Raonic in R2. If he gets passed that(which he should) I could see him get all the way to Djokovic, who he had a great match against at Wimbledon last year, and who he should have beaten at RG this year.

Tox56

cgpg5 wrote: »

Well that was in 09. Andy Roddick made the final that year a lot changes in 3 years. Murray is a better player since then and Stan is worse.

It will be interesting to see if there are any shocks but I think the top 3 in this are way too good to lose before the semis.

I agree that Murray should win up to at least the QF, but if I'm right he will be playing Berdych there, who he has an awful record against.

The best of 3 sets format is both a blessing and a curse, it gives him a chance against someone like Djokovic, but he is more vulnerable against weaker opposition than in the slams.