Zverev: „I wouldn’t trade olympic gold for a slam title“

H

Hyde

Semi-Pro
Interesting statement from Zverev. Being the heavy favorite at the French Open, he was asked yesterday if he would trade his olympic gold medal for a slam title. His answer:

„There's no chance of that. The gold medal, for me, is the hardest to win because you have one opportunity every four years. It is very special because few have achieved it. Also, you do it for your country, for the people back home, so I will never exchange my gold medal for anything. But I don't mind adding a few things to my list.“

Didn’t Djokovic also said that his Olympic win is the most special win of his career? Not sure about that but I think I heard that somewhere.

It seems like tennis players rate olympic glory very highly. Maybe even as much or more than slams?
 
Hyde said:
It seems like tennis players rate olympic glory very highly. Maybe even as much or more than slams?
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Some do, some don't. The big 4 and the Williams sisters all clearly valued it very highly, and that rose the standing of it massively as a tennis tournament from where it was prior. Sinner, judging by what we just saw the other year, couldn't care less, but Alcaraz obviously does.
 

Zverev: „I wouldn’t trade olympic gold for a slam title“​

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ibbi said:
Some do, some don't. The big 4 and the Williams sisters all clearly valued it very highly, and that rose the standing of it massively as a tennis tournament from where it was prior. Sinner, judging by what we just saw the other year, couldn't care less, but Alcaraz obviously does.
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When was the first time we had tennis at olympics, 1988? Maybe it naturally needed a bit time to truly gain reputation but it seems nowadays olympic glory is a very big deal for the players.
 
Hyde said:
Interesting statement from Zverev. Being the heavy favorite at the French Open, he was asked yesterday if he would trade his olympic gold medal for a slam title. His answer:

„There's no chance of that. The gold medal, for me, is the hardest to win because you have one opportunity every four years. It is very special because few have achieved it. Also, you do it for your country, for the people back home, so I will never exchange my gold medal for anything. But I don't mind adding a few things to my list.“

Didn’t Djokovic also said that his Olympic win is the most special win of his career? Not sure about that but I think I heard that somewhere.

It seems like tennis players rate olympic glory very highly. Maybe even as much or more than slams?
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Is that even a question??
 
SwissMaestro81 said:
Is that even a question??
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At least when people talk about legacy and career achievements, it seems like olympic win is always seen as an afterthought. People talk about how many slams someone won, how many weeks at No 1 he had, even how many masters he won, but they rarely even mention olympic achievements in these debates.

For example, Andy Murray won two olympic golds, but people rarely even bring that up when debating his legacy and some even still think Wawrinka is in the same tier as him.
 
Hyde said:
When was the first time we had tennis at olympics, 1988? Maybe it naturally needed a bit time to truly gain reputation but it seems nowadays olympic glory is a very big deal for the players.
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How does it gain reputation? By top guys caring about it. Not just be existing for a while. Sampras didn't give a damn about it once he reached the top, Agassi I think only played it the one time in Atlanta. Once Beijing happened, Djokovic was shedding tears, Federer was leaping in the air celebrating a doubles win. It was made.
 
NachoGPT said:
Assuming that Carlos is back healthy and Sinner learns how to handle something called “the sun”, then I’d say this is his one and only shot.
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@Zara I was going to say that if there's a heat wave at the US Open, then I think Zverev would have a good chance there. Alcaraz is unlikely to be at his best after a long layoff and might not even be fit to play. If Sinner wilts in the heat, Zverev is in with at least as good a chance as anyone else, especially if he comes in as a slam champion. The bookies have Djokovic ahead of Zverev in the list of favorites for the US Open, but I think that a Zverev who has a slam title would be significantly more likely to win the US Open than Djokovic or anyone else in a situation in which Alcaraz was unfit/had withdrawn and Sinner couldn't handle the heat.

Sinner's less likely to succumb to heat exhaustion at Wimbledon, and even if he does, I'm not sure Zverev's chances against Djokovic and the field would be as good as at the US Open.
 
ibbi said:
How does it gain reputation? By top guys caring about it. Not just be existing for a while. Sampras didn't give a damn about it once he reached the top, Agassi I think only played it the one time in Atlanta. Once Beijing happened, Djokovic was shedding tears, Federer was leaping in the air celebrating a doubles win. It was made.
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Yeah but I still would argue „existing for a while“ helped to boost the reputation. Because when Sampras and Agassi grew up, tennis wasnt an olympic sport. Which means the thought of tennis at the olympics was unusual/strange to them - so they didn’t care.

Federer, Nadal and Djokovic grew up with tennis being an olympic sport, so they cared about it from the start.
 
I guess if you are a one hit wonder, the olympics is more meaningful but a multiple slam winner trumps an olympic medal.
 
ibbi said:
How does it gain reputation? By top guys caring about it. Not just be existing for a while. Sampras didn't give a damn about it once he reached the top, Agassi I think only played it the one time in Atlanta. Once Beijing happened, Djokovic was shedding tears, Federer was leaping in the air celebrating a doubles win. It was made.
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Agassi was the first one to value it highly. He spoke all the time about it.
 
duaneeo said:
Why would time be needed? The meaning of the Olympics is the same now as it was then.
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Many were opposed to the introduction of tennis as an Olympic event in 1988.
It was redundant. It was unnecessary. Tennis essentially has four "Olympics" every year.
Hence, many players did not take the Olympics seriously for many years.
 
Better_Call_Raul said:
Many were opposed to the introduction of tennis as an Olympic event in 1988.
It was redundant. It was unnecessary. Tennis essentially has four "Olympics" every year.
Hence, many players did not take the Olympics seriously for many years.
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Many still don't. A long list of players skipped 2024 Olympics.
 
MichaelNadal said:
Venus always said the same. It transcends just your sport. Imagine how epic having a gold medal would be.
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At Rafa's museum at his Academy the Gold Medal is front and centre of all his trophies.

Many soccer players consider an Olympic Gold as big if not bigger than the World Cup despite it being an U23 event basically.

Its not complicated, Olympic Gold is bigger than your sport.
 
Zara said:
If he wins here and gets the monkey off his back—then can we expect him to win more majors in the future?
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The stars had to perfectly align for him to even have a realistic chance. Raz injured, Sinner and Djoker getting upset in early rounds... What are the odds of something like that happening again in the near future? The guy is already 29.
 
it is more important to him of course because in four years, he would have only been beaten once and have been undefeated for three years at least
 
messiahrobins said:
At Rafa's museum at his Academy the Gold Medal is front and centre of all his trophies.

Many soccer players consider an Olympic Gold as big if not bigger than the World Cup despite it being an U23 event basically.

Its not complicated, Olympic Gold is bigger than your sport.
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It's not called soccer, it's called FOOTBALL!
:whistle:
 
Hyde said:
When was the first time we had tennis at olympics, 1988? Maybe it naturally needed a bit time to truly gain reputation but it seems nowadays olympic glory is a very big deal for the players.
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Tennis was consistently at the Summer Olympics from 1896-1924. Then tennis was removed from the Olympics, apparently due to a clash between the IOC and the ILTF over the definition of an amateur tennis player. Tennis returned as a demonstration sport at the Olympics (i.e. no medals) in 1968 and 1984, and then came back as a full Olympic medal sport from 1988 to the present day. Only in 2008 and 2012 did tennis at the Olympics have ranking points on the world tennis rankings.
 
I think the Olympics have such a history as being pinnacle for so many sports that it probably seems very important even to tennis players.

However, I still think it is a clear notch below the slams as they have been the benchmark for te mis for well over a century not just the last 30 odd years.
 
paolo2143 said:
I think the Olympics have such a history as being pinnacle for so many sports that it probably seems very important even to tennis players.

However, I still think it is a clear notch below the slams as they have been the benchmark for te mis for well over a century not just the last 30 odd years.
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As it has been explained tennis was an Olympic sport for about 30 years in the early 20th century already and now already for 40 more years. Almost 70 years in total.
Since its inception in 1922 the "AO" has been played 100 times, the FO 95 times (was only for French players until 1924).

That is not a big difference.
 
helterskelter said:
@Zara I was going to say that if there's a heat wave at the US Open, then I think Zverev would have a good chance there. Alcaraz is unlikely to be at his best after a long layoff and might not even be fit to play. If Sinner wilts in the heat, Zverev is in with at least as good a chance as anyone else, especially if he comes in as a slam champion. The bookies have Djokovic ahead of Zverev in the list of favorites for the US Open, but I think that a Zverev who has a slam title would be significantly more likely to win the US Open than Djokovic or anyone else in a situation in which Alcaraz was unfit/had withdrawn and Sinner couldn't handle the heat.

Sinner's less likely to succumb to heat exhaustion at Wimbledon, and even if he does, I'm not sure Zverev's chances against Djokovic and the field would be as good as at the US Open.
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I am not sure if it’s just the heat for Sinner but a combination of things that finally caught up with him. I also think he overplayed and overestimated his abilities thinking he might be fit enough to win everything including RG.

If Zverev finally wins a slam or RG in this case, I think he’ll experience a mental letdown for a while, so Wimbledon is probably out of the question. I agree that he’d have a better chance at the USO under those circumstances you mentioned once he’s recovered enough from the win.
 
Zara said:
I am not sure if it’s just the heat for Sinner but a combination of things that finally caught up with him. I also think he overplayed and overestimated his abilities thinking he might be fit enough to win everything including RG.

If Zverev finally wins a slam or RG in this case, I think he’ll experience a mental letdown for a while, so Wimbledon is probably out of the question. I agree that he’d have a better chance at the USO under those circumstances you mentioned once he’s recovered enough from the win.
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I don't think Sinner overplayed. I think he just didn't underplay as he usually does. Playing every MS event is not too much for a 24-year-old, and he was hardly stretched in those matches. It's possible that he put too much pressure on himself and that that contributed to his troubles. If he'd skipped an MS event, he might have come in to Roland Garros undercooked.

You could be right about Wimbledon. Hard to tell how Zverev would react to winning a title. It could inspire him to greater things, but it might also lead to an emotional letdown.
 
helterskelter said:
I don't think Sinner overplayed. I think he just didn't underplay as he usually does. Playing every MS event is not too much for a 24-year-old, and he was hardly stretched in those matches. It's possible that he put too much pressure on himself and that that contributed to his troubles. If he'd skipped an MS event, he might have come in to Roland Garros undercooked.

You could be right about Wimbledon. Hard to tell how Zverev would react to winning a title. It could inspire him to greater things, but it might also lead to an emotional letdown.
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Sinner’s case is still a mystery to me. I guess we’ll find out eventually as to what truly contributed to this bizarre loss. He played in Miami and won the tournament, and Miami is pretty hot.

I hope a win here really inspires Zverev to greater things, yes. I sincerely hope he doesn’t get too comfortable should he win the title here. He can still play very well until 35 and make the most out of his career. Better late than never as they say!
 
Zara said:
Sinner’s case is still a mystery to me. I guess we’ll find out eventually as to what truly contributed to this bizarre loss. He played in Miami and won the tournament, and Miami is pretty hot.

I hope a win here really inspires Zverev to greater things, yes. I sincerely hope he doesn’t get too comfortable should he win the title here. He can still play very well until 35 and make the most out of his career. Better late than never as they say!
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If he had to play a third set in Miami, perhaps he would have struggled with the heat. If Roland Garros was best of three, he would have beaten Cerundolo. (Also, if the Australian Open hadn't closed the roof, he might well have lost to Spizzirri, and he clearly hadn't overplayed prior to Australia).

Yes, perhaps there's still time for Zverev to do a Wawrinka.
 
LOL...yes he would. If you actually believe that then you probably get your racket strung with spaghetti strings.

Olympics aren't anywhere close to majors. It's not the pinnacle of our sport. It's not the pinnacle of any popular sport. It's relegated to mostly parlor games and backyard fun time. They had to offer points just to get players to come to theOlympics and even then, a lot of them don't even bother.

He's only saying this now because he thinks he has a chance to beat Mansheik and whatever Italian slips through.
 
Zverev is being asked a meaningless question.
Also, he’s unlikely to say yes at this stage of the slam everyone now expects him to win.
Still, OG is an incredible achievement.
 
helterskelter said:
If he had to play a third set in Miami, perhaps he would have struggled with the heat. If Roland Garros was best of three, he would have beaten Cerundolo. (Also, if the Australian Open hadn't closed the roof, he might well have lost to Spizzirri, and he clearly hadn't overplayed prior to Australia).

Yes, perhaps there's still time for Zverev to do a Wawrinka.
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So in a nutshell, Sinner has to win quickly (2 sets in Masters, 3 or 4 sets in Majors) if it's really hot/humid. Otherwise if the match gets prolonged, the advantage goes to his opponent. He should of beaten Juan Manuel Cerundolo 5 minutes quicker and it would of been a different scenario.
 
helterskelter said:
If he had to play a third set in Miami, perhaps he would have struggled with the heat. If Roland Garros was best of three, he would have beaten Cerundolo. (Also, if the Australian Open hadn't closed the roof, he might well have lost to Spizzirri, and he clearly hadn't overplayed prior to Australia).

Yes, perhaps there's still time for Zverev to do a Wawrinka.
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We don’t know that. After all, he did play a four-setter and a five-setter to win two of his four Slams. But you could also be right as you’ve made good observations in the past.
 
The Olympics devalues its brand with every iteration ... or reaches new markets with youth-oriented sports if you prefer.

The cultural prestige of a gold medal might be greater, but a slam win is an objectively greater achievement.
 
Zara said:
We don’t know that. After all, he did play a four-setter and a five-setter to win two of his four Slams. But you could also be right as you’ve made good observations in the past.
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We don't know it. But I'm just showing that him suffering in the heat doesn't necessarily mean he'd played too much going in.

A lot of people are worried about overplaying, but I believe those concerns are overblown. I think a lot of players would benefit from playing more, not less.
 
helterskelter said:
We don't know it. But I'm just showing that him suffering in the heat doesn't necessarily mean he'd played too much going in.

A lot of people are worried about overplaying, but I believe those concerns are overblown. I think a lot of players would benefit from playing more, not less.
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What do you think caused Charlie’s injuries?
 
Zara said:
What do you think caused Charlie’s injuries?
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Most injuries are just the result of random bad luck. When he got injured, he had played 13 matches in six weeks. That doesn't strike me as an excessive amount, especially considering only three of those matches was longer than two sets.

That said, he could also be an injured Calf who plays tennis.
 
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