Rafael Nadal clinched a golden treble to wrap up the Olympic tennis tournament on Sunday, overcoming Chilean Fernando Gonzalez to add the Games men’s singles gold to his French Open and Wimbledon crowns.
The unstoppable Spaniard won 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 to mark his impending rise to the top of the world rankings with his country’s first ever Olympic gold medal in tennis. “It’s very difficult to win this because you only have one chance every four years,” Nadal, who replaces Roger Federer as world No. 1 on Monday, said. “I played almost a perfect match.”
Before Nadal’s fireworks, Russia’s Elena Dementieva enjoyed the biggest moment of her career when she won the women’s singles gold medal against compatriot Dinara Safina.
Dementieva battled back to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Vera Zvonareva made it an all-Russian singles podium by beating China’s Li Na 7-5, 6-0.
American Venus Williams claimed the third Olympic gold medal of her career when she and sister Serena thrashed Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2, 6-0 in a onesided women’s doubles final.
While Dementieva and Safina served up a compelling battle of wills, it was Nadal who everyone had come to see — apart, that is, for the flag-waving Chilean fans who cooked up a Davis Cup-type atmosphere on Centre Court.
From the start Gonzalez did what he does best, pounding forehands across the net. Nadal munched them all up and fizzed them back from all angles.
Nadal sealed the first set after a 37-minute masterclass of blurring movement and power.
Gonzalez traded blows with Nadal in the second set, standing toe-to-toe with the raging bull over the net, and his big chance came at 6-5 when he had the Spaniard in trouble at 15-40.
On his first set point he played a perfect point but with the court gaping, put a simple backhand volley wide. He then offered up a forehand gift and his moment had passed. Nadal stormed the tiebreak and muscled 5-2 ahead in the third set.
Gonzalez saved three match points but the insatiable Nadal sealed it on his fourth. “It looked easy, but when you’re tired you get a little dizzy,” Gonzalez said of the volley, neatly summing up the effect Nadal has on his opponents.
Rafa deserves top spot, says Federer
Roger Federer said Rafael Nadal “totally deserves” the No. 1 ranking, paying warm tribute to the Spaniard who takes over the top spot on Monday. Federer, who grabbed Olympic doubles gold with partner Stanislas Wawrinka, said Nadal had played his way to the top and admitted he was now dominating the sport. “I’ve known for over a week now about the number one ranking. But it’s fine. Rafa played great to get it,” Federer said. “That’s what I expected and hoped for many years ago when I got to No. 1, that if ever somebody were to take it away from me, he would have to play an incredible tennis schedule, win the biggest tournaments, dominate the game basically, and then like this he can take No1. I didn’t want it to happen that I would play completely bad and somebody would pick up number one in the world. So I think Rafa totally deserves it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment