 Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 16 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 16 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 16 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 16 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 16 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 16 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 16 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 16 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 16 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 16 Aug 2008 |
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| 16 Aug 2008 - Olympic Tennis Centre, Beijing - Chris Bowers | |
| All that glitters is gold for Roger Federer |
There are few milestones left for Roger Federer to achieve, but he achieved one of his lifetime’s dreams on the second-last day of the Olympic tennis event. Federer won an Olympic medal at the third attempt – and it was gold, he and Stanislas Wawrinka beating Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson 63 64 67(4) 63.
On a day with everyone from A to Z, it was the extreme names, Aspelin and Zvonareva, who lost, and those in between who have most to celebrate. As well as Federer’s and Wawrinka’s win, Novak Djokovic and the Bryan twins assured themselves of bronze medals, and the last two Grand Slam women’s doubles champions will play for the Olympic gold.
Great personal stories though these are, it’s Federer’s gold that will capture the headlines. He has talked in recent weeks, as players he would normally brush aside have beaten him, of ‘saving his year’. ‘Right now this is quite a surreal moment,’ he said after winning gold, his voice just starting to crack with emotion. ‘The joy of sharing this victory with somebody else who I like very much, who we had a great two weeks with, it’s quite different to anything I’ve ever gone through. I could only maybe compare it a little bit to some incredible Davis Cup victories I’ve ever had.
‘The closest I’ve come to this is one or two moments in Davis Cup because you’re part of a team, and to share this with someone else is very special. I remember Marc Rosset winning the gold in ’92 for Switzerland and maybe a little bit deep down in myself I was hoping to equal that one day, or be part of the Olympic Games. Seeing the great athletes being part of the Olympics was always something I looked forward to.’
And yet this wasn’t just about Federer. If anything, Wawrinka played slightly better in the final, but that is less important than the fact that this wasn’t simply the Roger Federer show. This week the two Swiss have formed a unit that looks capable of competing with the best, and if Federer were to commit to a year of Davis Cup next year and both men remain healthy, Switzerland could be a very powerful nation. Federer hinted that he might do just that, saying ‘I think I’m definitely going to play the first round next year’, assuming Switzerland beats Belgium next month to stay in the World Group.
In the Olympic final, the Swiss dropped their serve just once, that was in the third set. They promptly broke back but lost the set on the tiebreak. Yet that was really the only time the Swedes could claim to be on an equal footing, and for large swathes of the first, second and fourth sets, Federer and Wawrinka were a class better.
The Swiss and Swedes were joined on the medal rostrum by Bob and Mike Bryan, who came back from a set down to beat Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra 36 63 64. The Bryans’ reaction on winning the bronze was slightly more muted than their normal chest bump, but the final point was subject to a challenge, and they were clearly delighted with their win.
So too was Novak Djokovic, who beat James Blake 64 76(4) to claim bronze in singles, and he must wait overnight to receive his medal following the final match of the Olympic event, the men’s singles final between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Gonzalez.
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