 Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 15 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 15 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 15 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 15 Aug 2008 | Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 15 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 15 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 15 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 15 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 15 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 15 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 15 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 15 Aug 2008 |
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| 15 Aug 2008 - Olympic Tennis Centre, Beijing - Chris Bowers | |
| Drama and controversy in eleven hours of tennis |
The drive and determination for an Olympic medal leads to some long matches, and that drive and determination was at its height on a day of some phenomenally prolonged contests that lasted well over 11 hours at the Olympic Green tennis centre.
With seven final sets in 11 matches – including one of 8-6, another of 11-9 and a record-breaker of 19-17 – it was a day of high drama, and even a little controversy with James Blake suggesting that Fernando Gonzalez might not have acted with the ultimate of sportsmanship.
That controversy was unfortunate, because it will become the talking point of a match which deserves to be remembered for its bold tennis from both men and cliff-hanging final set. In particular, Gonzalez twice came back from 0-40 down on his serve in the decider, the second time to save three match points.
The controversial incident came when Gonzalez served for the fifth time to stay in the match at 8-9. On the first point, a long rally led to the Chilean playing a short volley which Blake ran down with a backhand directed at his opponent. Gonzalez got out of the way and saw the ball go long, but Blake was convinced it had brushed the Chilean’s racket and protested vociferously to umpire Carlos Bernardes. Replays suggested Blake had a point, but whether he was right to make such an issue of it is another matter, because the moment seemed to disrupt his concentration. He was broken in the following game, and Gonzalez went one round better than in Athens four years ago with a 46 75 11-9 win to guarantee at least a silver medal.
Blake said he felt Gonzalez hadn’t played according to the Olympic spirit, suggesting the Chilean knew the ball had hit his racket but didn’t own up to it. Gonzalez said he didn’t feel anything on his racket. Whether the ball touched the racket or not, Gonzalez increasingly seemed the likelier winner, as Blake found it more and more difficult to keep the ball away from the Chilean’s booming forehand which did immense damage.
The second men’s semifinal wasn’t quite such a cliffhanger, but it made up for length with some superb hitting. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have shared this year’s three Grand Slam titles between them, and they put on a display characterised by Nadal’s speed around the court and Djokovic’s resilient defence.
When Djokovic hit winner after winner to take the second set 61, he seemed set to repeat his victory over Nadal in Cincinnati two weeks ago. But Nadal regrouped, and in a final set of outstanding tennis, Nadal got the break in the 10th game, Djokovic mis-hitting a smash when it seemed he had done enough work to save a second match point, and Nadal won 64 16 64. The warm embrace at the net would have been befitting of the gold/silver medal match, and on this form, both men ought to leave Beijing with a medal.
Elsewhere Dinara Safina made it to the women’s semifinals with a three-sets win over Jelena Jankovic, a result which means Jankovic’s stay at the top of the women’s rankings will be limited to one week. There will be no medal for Lindsay Davenport and Liezel Huber, who were beaten on an 86 final set by the French Open champions Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual.
But there will be a medal for Roger Federer, after he and Stanislas Wawrinka won two matches, including a clinical 76(6) 64 victory over the world’s top pair Bob and Mike Bryan. In Saturday’s doubles gold medal match, the Swiss face the Swedish veterans Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson, whose 76(6) 46 19-17 win over Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra took 4¾ hours and at 59 games set a new record for the number of games in a men’s best-of-three-sets match at the Olympics.
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