Winning The 2024 Paris Olympics Is More Difficult Than Winning Any Slam.

Why smaller countries? Roddick, Fish were super motivated in 2004 also. Chile isn't that small of a country when they pounced for two golds. Argentina isn't small, and we saw Del Potro play his heart out.

Thiem is from Austria, he couldn't care less about the medal.

This is simply a personal thing IMO. Rosset had already brought gold home, so Federer wasn't going to do something unique in that aspect. Sure Federer wanted to do it, but I stress again, as he pointed out himself that the Olympics have a very special place in his heart because of meeting Mirka.

You may well be right that people differ according to personal preference rather than the size of their country. Still, it could be for Federer personally that he wanted to win it for Switzerland even though Rosset had also won it for Switzerland. That is a plausible personal preference even if he hadn't met Mirka at the Olympics. He seemed also very invested in winning the Davis Cup for Switzerland, so he might be quite patriotic. I can imagine meeting his future wife would also be a fond memory, especially as he was only 19 at the time of the Sydney Olympics.

BTW, I think Mainad was thinking not so much of the literal size/population of the country but of the frequency with which they win medals. Chile doesn't often win that many golds. Argentina has been very successful in football, but it hadn't had as much recent tennis success and I'm not sure it's that successful in the Olympics in general. True that many American players have tended to be quite motivated by the Olympics despite the USA winning lots of medals.
 

GAS

Hall of Fame
Still, I think players from smaller countries usually feel more motivated to bring home a medal especially a gold one.

I don't think that's true.

For example, Serbia is a very small country and Djokovic wasn't motivated at all to get a mixed doubles medal in Tokyo 2020.
 

lidoazndiabloboi

Hall of Fame
Our dear readers may not be aware that Paris Olympics entails winning 6 matches in 8 days.

Yes, you heard that correctly.

6 matches in 8 days.
5 matches in the last 6 days!

The French Open gives you many days off but the Paris Olympics is a different animal.

And with a global audience far surpassing the viewership of any Slam. While also carrying the weight of your country on your shoulders.

It is certainly the most physically and mentally grueling event in all of tennis and perhaps in all of individual sport.

Do check out the grueling schedule. Albeit three sets but physically grueling nonetheless.

Screenshot-20240605-154651.png
Tsitsipas won Monte Carlo this year, 6 matches in 7 days.
 

Rafa24

Hall of Fame
You cannot compare the pressure of a M1000 to the pressure and global viewership of the Olympics.
Players often casually shrug off a Masters1000 loss. That never happens with Olympics.

The two events are galaxies apart in terms of pressure. Not.Even.Close.
yup. what are there 10-12 masters 1000s a year? olympics once every 4 years. not even in the same league.
 

Rovesciarete

Hall of Fame
I think its Federer who started the importance of Olympics gold. In the 90s, men were hardly interested. Sampras, Becker , Courier etc didnt show much interest. Agassi won when he ranked 100 plus in 96

Roger certainly ennobled the medals in the eye of many in the tennis world.
 

Justshort

Semi-Pro
You cannot compare the pressure of a M1000 to the pressure and global viewership of the Olympics.
Players often casually shrug off a Masters1000 loss. That never happens with Olympics.

The two events are galaxies apart in terms of pressure. Not.Even.Close.
So much pressure that players often skip it.
Or if they attend, they just enjoy to be part of caravan rather than having grudges or recollection of.their loss.
 

airchallenge2

Hall of Fame
They give gold medals to skateboarding nowadays, hahahaha
Also, while I do appreciate the Games, I do think they really matter for sports that are less financially fortunate. Football (soccer) couldn't care less who brings home the gold medal. Andy Roddick on his podcast just said that he was heartbroken when he lost to Gonzales in Athens. Then he remembered that US Open started in 10 days and need to get ready to win that one.
 

Better_Call_Raul

Hall of Fame
Realistically this will be his last chance.
A maximum of 4 players are allowed from each country. There are strict ranking criteria for eligibility; no wild cards or special invitations.

But Rafa has protected ranking and is apparently going to play singles along with Alcaraz.

Dont know if Andy is playing singles.

There is another Spanish player (forget his name) that is upset that Rafa is taking up a spot and pushing a more deserving Spaniard out .

Also do not trust the draw to be honest. The Olympics apparently try avoid two players from same country playing in the early round.

In other words, the draw is rigged so that Rafa and Alcaraz do not play in early rounds.
 

smalahove

Hall of Fame
Afaik, it's a Bo5 final, but all the other matches Bo3. Should make life easier compared to slams, even though there are more frequent matches.
 

a10best

Legend
So Rafa winning the gold on hard courts puts himself on a literal and figurative pedestal ABOVE his top rivals.
 

ChrisJR3264

Hall of Fame
I still think best of 3 is more challenging than best of 5.
Most of these guys have the fitness to recover and play 5 set matches.

Mentally speaking - you lose set one - you have very little time to recover mentally. Splitting sets , mentally you know you can go to a 4th if you lose set 3 and sometimes pull out a win despite playing like crap 2/5 sets.
 

a10best

Legend
Your favourite Rafa's medals are impressive but largely negated by failure to win even a single YEC.
He's actually not my favorite. I think you simply missed the humor in the pedestal remark and Olympics.
Let's not take 1 positive comment about a person then equate that as their favorite.
I could say 1 positive thing about two very, very old politicians yet I can dislike both equally
Glad I didn't make a positive comment about Saddam Hussain, El Chapo, or Mayweather.
 
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Better_Call_Raul

Hall of Fame

Sorry, but if Rafa wishes to make a claim as GOAT, he needs to have at least wwon one YEC.
It really is one of the most shocking records. The Olympics come along every 4 years but there are numerous opportunities for YEC.

6 for Fed. 7 for Djoker. 0 for Rafa.
How does a GOAT not manage even one YEC?
:unsure:
 
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Youngheart

Semi-Pro
One of the principals of Olympic games, I assume, is equall fairness to all athletes.
So tell me, why does Russia get penalized, but Isreal gets a free pass??
For sure, they both have a record of terror against their neighboring country.

For the Paris Olympic, let's hope that the tennis players have a hotel close to the event,
because they don't need to have long delays in city traffic. A while back, I remember
hearing that Serena Williams bought her own condo on the famous Champs-Élysées!!
 

Better_Call_Raul

Hall of Fame
One of the principals of Olympic games, I assume, is equall fairness to all athletes.
So tell me, why does Russia get penalized, but Isreal gets a free pass??

Believe it or not, Israel does not have a single player ranked in the ATP 200. Maybe two or three in the ATP 500.
So it is all a moot point. Your favorite Israel is not winning any medals. Sorry!
 

Youngheart

Semi-Pro
Believe it or not, Israel does not have a single player ranked in the ATP 200. Maybe two or three in the ATP 500.
So it is all a moot point. Your favorite Israel is not winning any medals. Sorry!
I know Isreal doesn't have top ranked tennis players. Instead of practicing, they're to busy
zestfully destroying the helpless neighboring population. Isreal should at least have the
same Olympic restrictions as Russia. Don't forget that there are other events at the Olympic.
What a sight we will see!!! It will be Russia and Isreal, going straight toward the final gold
medal round of "25 Meter Military Pistol Shooting." Zealot foam will be dripping from their
mouths, as they rack up the points for a gold medal!! That's the end of "pure Olympic ideals."
 

GoatNo1

Hall of Fame
Biggest feat not only in tennis but in sports. Its the most prestigious sport event in the history of mankind. You are there fighting for your country not only for yourself. The trophy cabinet feels quite empty without an OGM to be honest, no matter how much youve achieved.
this is true for minor sports. the smaller the sport, the greater the importance of the Olympics. many of them attracted the attention of a wider public only during the Olympics. however, this is not the case for most major sports. in football, as the biggest sport, the importance of OG is far behind WC and EC as well as CL. in boxing, the matches for world champions in various categories are also far ahead of OG. in basketball, FIBA gives a higher coefficient for WC than for OG. baseball, rugby, cricket, F1 as well if they even have a competition at OG. the world athletics championship is not behind OG and tennis as the biggest individual sport has at least 4 tournaments that are far more important and there is probably also the WTF which is at least equal in importance. when OG brought points, they were below the points even for masters and half of the points for WTF. OI has that national character, but until the collapse of DC, it had a far greater importance and tradition than OG.
 

GoatNo1

Hall of Fame
Sorry, but if Rafa wishes to make a claim as GOAT, he needs to have at least wwon one YEC.
It really is one of the most shocking records. The Olympics come along every 4 years but there are numerous opportunities for YEC.

6 for Fed. 7 for Djoker. 0 for Rafa.
How does a GOAT not manage even one YEC?
:unsure:
that and dubble his weeks at no1 (along with rafa-slam and some GM) just to came in objective diskution about it.
 
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