Serena's Finest Hour - 2012 London Olympics

[Lozo1016]

In honor of the Olympics, I wanted to acknowledge Serena's dominant run in 2012. It was truly one of the great performances I've gotten the chance to see. It was one of the GOATs at her best. She was coming off her 2012 Wimbledon title and she backed it up in superb fashion.

Just to refresh everyone's memory these were her results (and world rankings):

R64 - Defeated #18 Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-1
R32 - Defeated #45 Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-3
R16 - Defeated #13 Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-0
QF - Defeated #8 Caroline Wozniacki 6-0, 6-3
SF - Defeated #1 Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-2
F - Defeated #3 Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1

No sets dropped and won 81% of her games. She never dropped more than 3 games in any set and she got better as her competition improved. It was a joke. She made top-20, top-10, top-5 players look like they didn't even belong in the sport. #1-ranked Azarenka was so frustrated she didn't know what to do. It got so bad for Sharapova that it looked like she was about to cry during the match. Her Olympic performance might be up there with Evert '76 US Open, Navratilova '83 US Open and Graf '88 French Open.

And this is before we even factor in her doubles wins with her sister Venus (tournament seeds):

R32 - Defeated Halep/Cirstea 6-3, 6-2
R16 - Defeated #5 Kerber/Lisicki 6-2, 7-5
Q - Defeated #2 Errani/Vinci 6-1, 6-1
SF - Defeated #3 Kirilenko/Petrova 7-5, 6-4
F - Defeated #4 Hlavackova/Hradecka 6-4, 6-4

22 sets up and 22 sets down. No tiebreaks, no threats and 2 Gold Medals.

 

[TupeloDanger]

Her Olympic performance might be up there with Evert '76 US Open, Navratilova '83 US Open and Graf '88 French Open.

Um, no.

 

[Vanhool]

That was an awesome summer. She won singles AND doubles at Wimbledon, served more aces than anyone in the tournament (including b of 5 men) flew to Stanford and defended her title, came back and did this.

I often wonder how much more dominant she would have been if 3 of the majors were played on grass like old times. Typically, she doesn't play a grass warm up and plays herself into form as she goes deeper into the tournament. She was nice and warmed up for the 2012 Olympics, though! She's great on hard court, but this was

 

[Fedeonic]

Just wow, kinda like Borg '78 or Nadal 2008 at the French.

 

[upchuck]

Best major tournament she has ever played from start to finish. In other words, no other female player has ever played a complete event at a higher level than she did that one.

 

[insideguy]

Ya she was just a monster there. Everything was clicking

 

[skyline]

Great thread. And I hope she does it again.

 

[NoleFam]

It was a magnificent performance.

 

[Chadillac]

Technically 1.5 gold medals, the doubles counts as one for her and venus.

 

[Man of steel]

Technically 1.5 gold medals, the doubles counts as one for her and venus.

Counts as 2 actually. Don't know if you can count or not. Probably can't

 

[Deleted member 77403]

Technically 1.5 gold medals, the doubles counts as one for her and venus.

Two gold medals, or are you also suggesting that Federer has half a gold medal?

 

[Deleted member 77403]

Didn't really look like she was pumping her fists...

The whole tournament, but that final in particular was just something else from Serena. It was after that, that I felt Serena was mentally ready to make a real assault on the slam record.

 

[Lozo1016]

Didn't really look like she was pumping her fists...

The whole tournament, but that final in particular was just something else from Serena. It was after that, that I felt Serena was mentally ready to make a real assault on the slam record.

Poor Maria, she was playing some really solid tennis going in. At least she got a silver medal for her troubles.

 

[Chadillac]

Two gold medals, or are you also suggesting that Federer has half a gold medal?

Ya only half a gold medal since both medals = 1. These medals arent gold anyways, they are just painted gold

 

[Deleted member 77403]

Ya only half a gold medal since both medals = 1. These medals arent gold anyways, they are just painted gold

So Phelps didn't really win 8 gold medals in 2008, then did he?

Sorry, 8 painted gold medals.

 

[Chadillac]

So Phelps didn't really win 8 gold medals in 2008, then did he?

Sorry, 8 painted gold medals.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/02/gold-medal-worth-sochi-olympics

Apparently he really won 8 silver medals

Do you know how team sports work? Basketball for example, when the us team wins, is it only 1 gold medal like in the tennis doubles?

 

[Deleted member 77403]

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/02/gold-medal-worth-sochi-olympics

Apparently he really won 8 silver medals

Do you know how team sports work? Basketball for example, when the us team wins, is it only 1 gold medal like in the tennis doubles?

So a team member cannot go around saying I have a gold medal...but something along the lines of, I have a tenth of a gold medal? Looks like they better get sharp on their fractions.

 

[Man of steel]

Ya only half a gold medal since both medals = 1. These medals arent gold anyways, they are just painted gold

Err....no. These are also invidiuals in a team.
So basicly your saying Usain bolt won 2.5 gold medals in the last olympics and in 08 aswell? when he is a called a 6 time olympic gold medallist.

Dude seriously sit down and be quiet

 

[Mainad]

Serena was in real beast mode at the 2012 Olympics. I don't think she has ever played so well in any event since!

But I just realised she was only seeded #4 behind Azarenka, Radwanska and Sharapova! Why was this given that she had just won Wimbledon?

 

[Krish872007]

This thread is not complete without this video:

I don't remember seeing such an incredible display on Centre Court in the last 20 years on the women's side

 

[Deleted member 77403]

Serena was in real beast mode at the 2012 Olympics. I don't think she has ever played so well in any event since!

But I just realised she was only seeded #4 behind Azarenka, Radwanska and Sharapova! Why was this given that she had just won Wimbledon?

Because she had a really bad 2011 slam wise and was off due to that injury she also suffered in Cincy I think, Azarenka had won AO, Sharapova had won RG and Radwanska was super consistent. It was really at W2012 that Serena came back to life, so this was really the start of it.

 

[Mainad]

This thread is not complete without this video:

I don't remember seeing such an incredible display on Centre Court in the last 20 years on the women's side

Awesome display of power. Interesting that both the women's and men's singles champions converted their first championship point with an ace!

 

[Chadillac]

Serena was in real beast mode at the 2012 Olympics. I don't think she has ever played so well in any event since!

But I just realised she was only seeded #4 behind Azarenka, Radwanska and Sharapova! Why was this given that she had just won Wimbledon?

Strong era

 

[Deleted member 77403]

Strong era

True. That Olympics 2012 was part of a strong era, just amazing how Serena destroyed everyone in the manner she did, despite the strength. One to be remembered.

 

[Lozo1016]

Rennae Stubbs just said Serena believes her match with Sharapova at the 2012 Olympics was her best match in her career.

 

[Mainad]

Rennae Stubbs just said Serena believes her match with Sharapova at the 2012 Olympics was her best match in her career.

It must be up there. I can't think of any Slam finals she played where she destroyed her opponent so comprehensively. I guess the nearest examples are her beatdowns of Sharapova at 2007 AO (6-1,6-2) and of Safina at 2009 AO (6-0,6-3).

 

[Man of steel]

In terms of peak throughout the tournament i would say wimby 02 and Us open 02 would rank on par with this tournament.
Wimby 03 would have been even better but she went way too easy on venus in the final due to venus' injury and gifted her a set.
She destroyed henin and mauresmo en route to the final.

 

[THUNDERVOLLEY]

In honor of the Olympics, I wanted to acknowledge Serena's dominant run in 2012. It was truly one of the great performances I've gotten the chance to see. It was one of the GOATs at her best. She was coming off her 2012 Wimbledon title and she backed it up in superb fashion.

Just to refresh everyone's memory these were her results (and world rankings):

R64 - Defeated #18 Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-1
R32 - Defeated #45 Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-3
R16 - Defeated #13 Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-0
QF - Defeated #8 Caroline Wozniacki 6-0, 6-3
SF - Defeated #1 Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-2
F - Defeated #3 Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1

No sets dropped and won 81% of her games. She never dropped more than 3 games in any set and she got better as her competition improved. It was a joke. She made top-20, top-10, top-5 players look like they didn't even belong in the sport. #1-ranked Azarenka was so frustrated she didn't know what to do. It got so bad for Sharapova that it looked like she was about to cry during the match. Her Olympic performance might be up there with Evert '76 US Open, Navratilova '83 US Open and Graf '88 French Open.

Serena was magnificent in the Olympics of 2012--one of the greatest Olympic tennis performances ever witnessed. The final was the perfect combination of tennis clinic + absolute domination.