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Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 17 Aug 2008

Fernando Gonzalez (CHI), Rafael Nadal (ESP) and Novak Djokovic (CHI)

Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 17 Aug 2008

Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 18 Aug 2008

17 Aug 2008 - Olympic Tennis Centre, Beijing - Chris Bowers

Nadal continues dream

Rafael Nadal brought the curtain down on a highly successful Olympic tennis event when he took the gold medal, beating Fernando Gonzalez 63 76(2) 63 in two hours 22 minutes. His victory leaves the medal winners featuring the biggest names in tennis, with Nadal, Roger Federer and the Williams sisters winning gold, and the Bryan twins and Novak Djokovic also claiming medals.

But Nadal is the man of the moment. When the history of his career comes to be written, the middle part of 2008 will surely be the peak. He has won the French Open, Wimbledon and the Olympic gold medal within three months, and the way he has learned to move around a hard court means he must be a favourite for the US Open, which begins in a week’s time.

His movement was the foundation stone on which his gold medal has been built. Gonzalez played a high-quality match, running Nadal around with his big forehand and trying to hit through the court to negate Nadal’s speed. But whenever Gonzalez seemed to have opened up the court, there was Nadal to make up ridiculous amounts of ground – and he always seemed to have the right shot to play at the end of his amazing retrieving.

Gonzalez’s best chance came in the second set. He had two set points on the Nadal serve at 5-6, and should have put away a volley on the first of them at the end of a long rally. But with no time to think, he put it into the tramlines, and when he dumped a forehand into the net on the second, his chance had gone. Nadal followed up with a tiebreak that involved no errors – forced or unforced – and an early break in the third set was too much for the Chilean to make up.

“I think I played almost a perfect match, no?” said the Spaniard after the match. “I arrived here very tired after flying directly from Cincinnati. And the reason probably that I won is because I’ve had a fantastic time here enjoying a lot in the village. Thank you very much to all the Spanish athletes for coming every day to supporting me.”

The gold medal is the perfect way for Nadal to begin his time as world No 1 – he will be listed at the top of the new rankings on Monday – and his haul in 2008 could yet surpass even Roger Federer’s greatest years. A good performance at the US Open would go some way to ensuring the year-end No 1 ranking, and he could still win the Davis Cup, as Spain are favourites to beat the USA in next month’s semifinals.

But Nadal won’t have time to celebrate until after that semifinal. It has been non-stop for him since the French Open, which means there will be an awful lot to celebrate when he can finally take a break in the third week of September.

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