2021 WTA Tokyo Olympics - General Discussion

[mightyjeditribble]

They mentioned Hyeon Chung's AO blisters. Whatever happened to him? He showed such promise.

 

[abmk]

3 BPs for Bencic!

 

[mightyjeditribble]

Serving for the gold medal ... Somehow I don't think this will be straightforward.

 

[augustobt]

That ball was terribly out, come on!

 

[mightyjeditribble]

15-40 ...

 

[mightyjeditribble]

What a shot to save the first BP.

And with that BH we're at deuce. Phew.

 

[Brian11785]

Renae not holding back about that MTO by Bencic before Vondousovas service game.

 

[abmk]

CP for Bencic!

 

[abmk]

great return by Marketa setting up that point. CP saved. deuce.

 

[FakeEmpire]

OMG! OMG! OMG! I can't f***ing believe it!

Federer is jealous!

 

[mightyjeditribble]

3 games in a row for Vondrousova now.

If they're gone to take turns with winning three games in a row, I'm up for Bencic taking her turn to do it now.

And that's just what she does! Comes through that last game and brings a singles gold medal home to Switzerland!

 

[abmk]

Bencic converts on 2nd CP with an unreturnable!
Congrats to her and her team!!

 

[Kralingen]

what a win for Bencic and Switzerland.

Vondrousova fought really hard, I thoroughly enjoyed the dynamics of that match. Congrats to Belinda on what is actually her first big title.

 

[bezs]

Well done by Belinda, hopefully she can do the double.

The Vapors she's rocking is ancient have the same pair and its a few years old.

 

[Im(moral) Winner]

That’s how it done, Roger

 

[Devil_dog]

Hats off to both women. Excellent match. I had Vondy as my dark horse pick and she almost grabbed the gold but Bencic earned this one. Congrats!

 

[tacou]

Two great matches. Rybakina looks like a future champ but as an Elina/Belinda fan these matches went my way! You could see how much it meant to them both, especially Belinda!!

 

[FakeEmpire]

Oh my, if she manages to win the doubles gold tomorrow (a big if, as Krejcikova and Siniakova are a well-oiled and mean machine)... Unleash the Dean Boxall's celebrations!

Regarding the MTO, it clearly disturbed Vondousova's serve rhythm, but it's not one of those egregious toilet breaks. She indeed had a blister and only took the established time.

 

[Mainad]

Congrats to Bencic on winning gold in her maiden appearance at the Olympics. She did what even her compatriot, the great Roger, failed to do and win the Olympic Singles Gold Medal for Switzerland.

 

[fundrazer]

I was feeling a bit tired so didn't watch much after the first set, but seems like it was a good match. Early on it seemed very high quality. I also like matches like this where I can be happy with either result.

I was definitely kinda torn between this one though. I was a big fan of Bencic when she was making noise in 2014 or 2015. Really like the way she plays, and being Swiss was nice too (my grandmother was Swiss and I have a lot of pride in that heritage). She did take a backseat to Mugu for me though. Then this week I was super impressed with Vondrousova, and I thought she'd win gold. Seems to have upped her meat and potatoes game as I guess Brad Gilbert would call it, but still has the creativity. Really impressed with how she dismantled Osaka and Svitolina.

Hopefully they can both build on their results here and have a good hardcourt season.

 

[FakeEmpire]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1421488022223265793

She still has things to improve, namely her serve and FH reliability, but there's hope this might be her turning point towards more consistency and bigger results.

 

[AM75]

Belinda is only 24 but is feels like she's on tour forever.

And Vondrusova was so fun to watch, she can hit hard, she has wicked spins and slices and variety, just amazing, such good tennis. I hope she'll win something big very soon.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

A worthy and deserving champion. A kind, beautiful player. Great to see her land a big title and to join such a small group of Olympic gold medallist’s in singles.

Martina Hingis must be proud.

 

[spystud]

Krejcikova/Siniakova serving @ 4-1 after winning the first. Bout to be Gold medalists.

 

[spystud]

Over, Czechs win.

Helluva year for Ms. Krejcikova.

 

[HelenCH]

It would have been nice to win the second gold on Swiss National Day, but silver is not bad either. Well done!

 

[D-Lite]

Over, Czechs win.

Helluva year for Ms. Krejcikova.

Good result IMO - this pairing are solid and they put the work in on the tour. It's nice to see countrywomen like Bencic/Golubic get together and pair up for the Olympics - maybe they'll play more on tour together now? I don't know if they even played any warm-up events together this year to prepare for this? Anyway, Krejcikova in particular is having a phenomenal year and to me, at the Olympics it doesn't matter if you win singles or doubles gold - both are extremely tough events and arguably doubles gets given more coverage than any other event (unless it's a high profile player playing doubles randomly at a slam, or a random pairing of high profile players). I do think the Mixed needs a massive overhaul though - I think the draw is too small and to qualify they should have to play doubles/mixed at slams a set number of times. Maybe that's too optimistic as they have to pair players up from the same country, so I understand if it's a logistical thing, but to me I've just had no interest in it. To add to that, I found Novak's withdrawal frustrating and it undermined the value of it further.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Very well deserved for the Czech’s.

Bencic goes home with a Gold and Silver, not bad at all! Huge for Golubic to get a silver as well.

 

[spystud]

Good result IMO - this pairing are solid and they put the work in on the tour. It's nice to see countrywomen get together and pair up for the Olympics - maybe they'll play more on your together now? I don't know if they even played any warm-up events together this year to prepare for this?

They’ve played together all year. Runner-up at AO, won Gippsland, Madrid, & FO.

 

[bezs]

No French Open win for Pavlyuchenkova a mixed doubles gold medal win helps to make up for it.

 

[I Am Finnish]

.

 

[Gazelle]

So Bencic can get two medals but Iron Man Djokovic was tired because he played mix?

 

[HelenCH]

So Bencic can get two medals but Iron Man Djokovic was tired because he played mix?

He was tired because he played RG and Wimbledon pretty much back to back winning both.

 

[D-Lite]

They’ve played together all year. Runner-up at AO, won Gippsland, Madrid, & FO.

Sorry, should have been clearer - meant the Swiss team. Did they play warm-ups together?

 

[D-Lite]

He was tired because he played RG and Wimbledon pretty much back to back winning both.

The same happened to Nadal at the 2016 Games - lost in the SF then lost the Bronze medal play-off to Nishikori, but the difference being that Nadal already had a gold in singles and went on to win the doubles gold at those games. I feel these were the last opportunities for Djokovic at the Olympics, so maybe that bothered him alongside the fact he has played and won so much the past few months. To add to that, prospects of a Golden Slam just add more weight of pressure and now it's 'just' a Grand Slam on the line. I think he will get it - he will be fresher than he was in Tokyo, but Zverev's win should remind others that Djokovic is beatable, even if it's less likely over five sets.

 

[D-Lite]

No French Open win for Pavlyuchenkova a mixed doubles gold medal win helps to make up for it.

Nice win for them, but mixed doubles needs a rethink and overhaul of some kind. 16 teams is so limited. How many played the slams together this year as a warm-up? I would be intrigued to know. I would say doubles gold is equal to singles at the Olympics, even with 1 less round, but the mixed just isn't for me.

 

[zvelf]

That mixed doubles final was fun. I was rooting for Pav/Rublev, but I do feel bad for Vesnina. Vesnina had 2 championship points at Wimbledon, 4 match points for the Bronze here, and 1 gold match point here and lost all of them.