Tokyo Olympic Games Picks
The Tokyo Olympics are a go, so *someone* will succeed Monica Puig as the reigning Gold medalist. Could it be...?
Early talk this week was that the Tokyo hard courts were extremely slow, which could play into the hands of some of the players who might be thought of more as clay courters. Additionally, some tough early match-ups -- 1r Barty/Sorribes Tormo, 1r Muguruza/Kudermetova, 2r Swiatek/Badosa -- could throw the entire draw into disarray. Meanwhile, Osaka returns and will immediately feel more pressure to win than she's *ever* felt in *any* tournament she's ever played. We'll see how that works out.
*WOMEN's SINGLES*
GOLD: #6 Iga Swiatek, POL
SILVER: #3 Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
BRONZE: #8 Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
4th Place: Ons Jabeur, TUN
...thinking Barty's road is super tough -- Sorribes 1st Rd., Pavlyuchenkova 3rd -- so I went with the seemingly better odds with Krejcikova winning the section. So Barty will probably take Gold. Hmmm, might Jabeur (or maybe Sorribes) be the Puig of these Games? *WOMEN's DOUBLES*
GOLD: Krejcikova/Siniakova, CZE
SILVER: Mattek-Sands/Pegula, USA
BRONZE: V.Kudermetova/Vesnina, ROC
4th Place: Ostapenko/Sevastova, LAT
...Japan's #2-seeded Aoyama/Shibahara have had more regular season success than any duo, but won't have the home court advantage they might have with fans in the stands. Muguruza/Suarez-Navarro (open vs. Mertens/Van Uytvanck, could have Aoyama/Shibahara 2r) would be a lovely Cinderella story. *MIXED DOUBLES*
...the draw will come later, and the teams (ala V.Williams/Ram in '16) could change based on the singles results and/or injuries/COVID. Some contenders: Sakkari/Tsitsipas - the Greeks did well in Hopman Cup a few years ago
Vesnina/Karatsev - RG MX finalists
Schuurs/Koolhof - reached RG semis
Stosur - w/ someone (Peers?), as she won the AO MX final w/ Ebden (not in Tokyo) in Feb.
Watson/A.Murray - reached QF in London in '12; or maybe w/ Jamie?
Mattek-Sands - maybe w/ Rajeev Ram?
Swiatek - Hurkacz or Kubot
Osaka/Nishikori - seems natural that they'll *try*
Mladenovic - she's playing WD w/ Garcia, could go w/ Hubert or Mahut in MX
*MEN's SINGLES*
GOLD: #1 Novak Djokovic, SRB
SILVER: #3 Stefanos Tsitsipas, GRE
BRONZE: #7 Hubert Hurkacz, POL
4th Place: #2 Daniil Medvedev, ROC
...Djokovic, looking for Part IV of V in a possible Golden Slam season, doesn't have del Potro to contend with -- after back-to-back Olympic losses to the Argentine in '12 and '16 -- this time around. Andy Murray is playing for a third straight Gold, and opens with #9-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Petra Kvitova, together with Tomas Satoransky, will be the flag bearer of Czech Republic at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games
— Diego Barbiani (@Diego_Barbiani) July 22, 2021
-- from the Czech Olympic Team IG account pic.twitter.com/7gygR1m46q
#Tokyo2020 #TeamUkraine ???? pic.twitter.com/icIjRV9WGl
— Elina Monfils (@ElinaSvitolina) July 22, 2021
French tennis ladies have arrived in Tokyo! I'm very glad for your coming even under this difficult situation?? I hope a great result will come to Team France???? Please be careful for the tough hotness and humidity???? #tokyo2020 @alizecornet @CaroGarcia @KikiMladenovic @fioferro pic.twitter.com/aXe5ebwgsM
— Team Alize Cornet (@teamalizecornet) July 20, 2021
Tenía muchas ganas de sacarme esta foto ??
— Nadia Podoroska (@nadiapodoroska) July 21, 2021
Sos increíble #Tokyo2020
??????
I really wanted to take this photo ??
You’re amazing @Tokyo2020 #equipoARG #OwnTheMoment pic.twitter.com/PXfxYSjAzQ
Here's the 2038 Japanese version of Federer and Djokovic. pic.twitter.com/lLVStX78IT
— NOVAK FAN CANADA???????? -Danielovic- (@NovakCanada) July 21, 2021
posted by Todd.Spiker @ 7:12 PM
3 Comments:
US Open entry list is out. Bertens, Kuznetsova, Zheng, Zhu only players out. Last 2 in are Pironkova and Errani. Venus is 4 out, Konjuh 11.
Not Sopot, not Warsaw, but we will have a first time winner in Gdynia.
Indonesia's Rompies/Gumulya missed the Olympics and have played with different partners the last two weeks.
Olianovskaia played much better than someone ranked 682 this week. Good serve and groundstrokes.
5 On the Up Side-The Olympic Edition.
1.Sabalenka- From zero to hero? Due to Azarenka's pregnancy in 2016, Belarus had no representation. Now the get it with Sabalenka, who could win hitting just as hard as Puig did in 2016.
2.Kontaveit- Has a 51/49 match with Sakkari, but would be my unseeded pick to reach QF. There has been at least one unseeded player reach the QF in every event since 1996, when 8 of the Top 9(#5 Huber lost) reached the beach.
3.Barty- Don't have a reason to pick her, but is the turnaround too soon? Statistically, Barty, along with Pliskova, Krejcikova and Pavlyuchenkova, should be on the short list. Since 1988, at least one finalist had reached the final of either of the last 2 slams played before the event in every year except 2004, when you had to go back 3, as Henin-Hardenne won in Australia.
4.Swiatek- Under the radar, and may face a peaking Osaka. But she doesn't have bad losses, and in a field filled with newbies, the numbers have fluctuated, but only 24 of 64 return from 2016, her lack of Olympic play doesn't hurt.
5.Krejcikova- #2 in the race, but 11 in the rankings, she has an unfortunate matchup with Barty. Still the heavy doubles favorite.
5 On the Down(Not Really) Side.
1.Osaka- The biggest wildcard here. Can she enjoy the once in a lifetime experience? Yes, I know about the US having both 84 and 96, but Japan won't get it again during her career. The best player on hard has also been below average in BJK Cup. Best case scenario? She matches Sugiyama's QF results from 2004.
2.Sherif- On this list, but truly not a down as the first woman from Egypt to make it here. African Games winner is 1-6 in WTA MD this year, but should be favored over Peterson.
3.Zarazua- Like Sherif, has been scuffling this season, but trying to be the first Mexican to win an Olympic match since Angelica Gavaldon in 1996.
4.Podoroska- Pan Am Games winner would have qualified by rank. In the how is this possible category, Podoroska is trying to be the first Argentine to win a match since 2004.
5.Cepede Royg- Due to Dolehide being out by quota, she gets the other Pan Am Games spot. She peaked at the right time, leaving the woman with a career high of 73 to live a once in a lifetime event 3 times. That's right! In an event in which only 5 of the 16 seeds(Muguruza, Suarez Navarro, Kvitova, Svitolina, Pavlyuchenkova)from 2016 return, Cepede Royg's 3rd trip make her a veteran. Note- Along with CSN, Stosur, Errani, Cornet return from 2008.
You won't have to worry about Peacock/Wimbledon next year. ABC will get some weekend matches from ESPN.
I'd honestly never heard of Olianovskaia (by that or any of the two or three other spellings of her name I've seen this week) before the other day when I looked at TC and there she was playing, but I guess it does show that the Russian Renaissance runs deep. ;)
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