Tennis-X Wrap: Beijing Olympics, New Haven

by Staff | August 17th, 2008, 11:04 pm
  • 5 Comments

BEIJING OLYMPICS
Beijing, China

MEN’S SINGLES
Gold: Rafael Nadal (ESP) d. Fernando Gonzales (CHI) 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-3
Silver: Gonzalez (CHI)
Bronze: Novak Djokovic (SRB) d. James Blake (USA) 6-3, 7-6(4)
ADHEREL
MEN’S DOUBLES:
Gold: Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka (SUI) d. Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson (SWE) 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3
Silver: Aspelin/T.Johansson (SWE)
Bronze: Mike and Bob Bryan (USA) d. Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement (FRA) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4

WOMEN’S SINGLES
Gold: Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. Dinara Safina (RUS) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
Silver: Safina (RUS)
Bronze: Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Li Na (CHN) 6-0, 7-6


WOMEN’S DOUBLES
Gold: Venus and Serena Williams (USA) d. Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual (ESP) 6-2, 6-0
Silver: Medina Garrigues/Ruano Pascual (ESP)
Bronze: Yan Zi and Zheng Jie (CHN) d. Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 6-2, 6-2

Nadal debuts at No. 1 this week with the French, Wimbledon, and Olympic titles under his belt thus far, entering the US Open which is the last title Federer holds. Dementieva, who has never won a Slam, takes home the women’s gold.

ATP WASHINGTON
Washington, D.C., USA

Argentine 19-year-old Juan Martin Del Potro beat Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-3, 6-3 to win his fourth title in a row after Stuttgart (claycourt), Kitzbuhel (clay), and Los Angeles (hard). “Today I was very, very nervous because I was the favorite to win the tournament,” said Del Potro, who has won 19 matches in a row. “In a final, if you play your best you can win, for sure, but I think today I played more with my mind than my body.” He is the first player in ATP history to win his first four career finals. The unseeded Troicki upset top-seeded Andy Roddick in the semis after losing the first set 6-0.

WTA CINCINNATI
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Russian Nadia Petrova, who had an awful first six months of the year, captured her first title of the season at the tiny Tier III Cincinnati stop, rolling over France’s Nathalie Dechy 6-2, 6-1 in the final. Petrova also took home the doubles title, teaming with countrywoman Maria Kirilenko to defeat the top-seeded team of Hsieh/Shvedova 6-3, 4-6, 10-8 in the final.

PREVIEW — ATP/WTA NEW HAVEN
New Haven, Conn., USA

The Euro Series continues this week in New Haven as the stars sit out to adjust from the Beijing time change or just take a week to train or sit on the couch before the US Open. Of the Top 16 men’s and women’s seeds this week in New Haven, one — Mardy Fish — is American.

Top 8 Men: Fernando Verdasco (ESP), Ivo Karlovic (CRO), Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG), Igor Andreev (RUS), Juan Monaco (ARG), Marin Cilic (CRO), Andreas Seppt (ITA), Mardy Fish (USA)

Top 8 Women: Anna Chakvetadze (RUS), Daniela Hantuchova (SVK), Marion Bartoli (FRA), Agnes Szavay (HUN), Patty Schnyder (SUI), Flavia Pennetta (ITA), Alize Corney (FRA), Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS

RANKING LANDMARK: This week Rafael Nadal ends Roger Federer’s 4-1/2 year reign atop the ATP Rankings. Serb Ana Ivanovic also re-takes No. 1 away from countrywoman Jelena Jankovic. Jankovic could have retained the top spot by reaching the semis at the Beijing Olympics, and Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova could have attained the top spot for the first time by reaching the semis in Beijing.

FEDERER DOUBLES GOLD SPURS DAVIS CUP RUN?: Roger Federer’s doubles gold at the Olympics may have fired him up for a full-year run at the Davis Cup in 2009. “I mean, I really grew up being a team player,” he said. “Always have been. I love team competition: basketball, soccer. It’s always something I’ve enjoyed doing. I got my first Davis Cup nomination when I was maybe 16. It was for me the greatest thing. What I tried to do today is create the good team atmosphere we have when I play Davis Cup. It’s best, you know. It’s something we’ve been trying to build up for many years, and now especially the last month, talking a lot about how we would like to play doubles…I haven’t made up the plan exactly yet for next year, but I think I’m definitely going to play the first round, and that hopefully will be in the World Group after beating Belgium in the relegation round [Sept. 19].”

PACIFIC LIFE AND INDIAN WELLS PART WAYS: With eight months left until its 2009 event, the Masters Series-Indian Wells is looking for a new title sponsor after a proposed two-year deal to renew with Pacific Life fell through. It ends a seven-year partnership between the top-tier ATP event and the insurance company.

AMERICAN JOURNALIST HACKS: From Kevin Eason of the Times Online at the Beijing Olympics: “Can’t speak for the Chinese version, but the quality of the English translation by the Chinese interpreters appears to be excellent, beautifully grammatical and quite full with detail. How they cope with some of the questions and answers, though, I can’t even imagine. Serena Williams can’t get through a single sentence without it being littered with “I mean, you know.” And some of the journalists are not much better. With the benefit of a transcript, I present this rambler from one American hack to Federer for your consideration: “I thought I read somewhere that the ranking officially changes with the 11th. I could be mistaken. My question is: the time that you spent with Pete Sampras last fall on tour, I was wondering if the subject ever came up about when a player who has had tremendous success in winning Grands Slams gets to that point in their career where the ranking becomes less important than winning the big events, and, therefore, the focus shifts, whether”…(bored yet?)…”it’s which tournaments you play, maybe even skipping the way Pete skipped a couple of Frenchies (eh?). Did you ever discuss that with him or if you’ve played it around in your head a little bit?” Sampras had time for lunch during that one. And I couldn’t even put that lot into concise English, never mind Mandarin.”

MONTCOURT IN COURT: The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has put the eight-week ban of French tennis player Mathieu Montcourt for betting on hold as they examine the penalty. Montcourt can play again as of this week as the CAS will take 2-3 weeks to decide whether to uphold the ATP sanction. The ATP earlier this month found Montcourt had bet on other tennis matches between June and November 2005, and was suspended for eight weeks and fined $14,000 dollars.

PAY ME: Bankrupt apparel chain Steve & Barry’s will pay Venus Williams $250,000 under the terms of her clothing line contract for her EleVen line of clothing, a U.S. bankruptcy judge said. Steve & Barry’s will sell itself at an auction later this month.

BLAKE THE BELOVED: James Blake stayed in the Olympic village during the Beijing Olympics, frequently took in other sports, and after upsetting Roger Federer has a congratulatory sign taped to his room door by the Bermuda team.

MISC: Mario “Baby Goran” Ancic has pulled from the US Open after a recurrence of the mono that sidelined him for much of 2007…French player Mathieu Montcourt was banned for two months on Friday after being found guilty of betting on matches (not his own) between June and September 2005…LeBron James watched Roger Federer’s opening-round match at the Beijing Olympics.


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5 Comments for Tennis-X Wrap: Beijing Olympics, New Haven

Mary Says:

You forgot to mention McEnroe being DQ’d in Newport.
Have some nightmares:
http://espn-i.starwave.com/media/pg2/2001/1207/photo/a_mcenroe_mp.jpg


Von Says:

“The unseeded Troicki upset top-seeded Andy Roddick in the semis after losing the first set 6-0.”

I believe Roddick was upset in the Qfs not SFs.


jane Says:

I see Del Potro did decide to pull out of New Haven after all – probably a good idea.


Noel Says:

It’d have been stupid on JMDP’s part to continue playing despite being extremely tired.He will go in to the open refreshed and with a lot of confidence.This has extremely adverse implications for my fantasy team selection though. :( I was anticipating the withdrawal and still didn’t drop him.


JCF Says:

“MISC: Mario “Baby Goran” Ancic has pulled from the US Open after a recurrence of the mono that sidelined him for much of 2007”

That might not be a good sign for Federer. If the virus can come back and bite you out of the blue, he could have another 2008-esque year, something I’m sure he would rather avoid.

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