Tennis is not a natural fit for the Olympics. It is hard to care too much when the winners of Gold medals get faded into the background, when there are four other events each year that are all more important (even in an Olympic year). And even putting aside the Olympics, the Big 4 relentless dominance has done so much for men's tennis. But still, let's just remember what they've done for Olympic tennis as well.
It may have started when Rafael Nadal won the 2008 Gold Medal in Beijing, beating Novak Djokovic in the Semifinals, but tennis has embraced the Olympics in a big way - especially the Men's side. Even more than Nadal's triumph in 2008, was Murray's in 2012. About six weeks after losing his first Wimbledon Final to Roger Federer, Murray, on that very same court, beat Djokovic and Federer back-to-back to win his first big title. At this point he hadn't won a major (he would win the US Open played a month later). He was 0-fer in big finals. He swept away Federer 6-2 6-1 6-4 (after beating Novak in straights 7-5 7-5), fell to the ground crying, got up and draped a British flag over his body and stood proud when 'God Save the Queen' played. That moment cemented the Olympics as a major event in tennis.
Of course, try telling the ATP this. Since 2012, they decided to stop awarding tour points for the Olympics, making it truly a 'play for the love of the game' affair with the players having nothing tangible to gain and everything (a tough 1-week slog in the middle of the busiest part of the season) to lose. Sadly for the ATP, and thankfully for all of us, the players do seem to love the game. The Men's Singles event may have lost a bit of luster when Federer had to pull out, but the other 3 members of the Big 4 came to play, and brought an old friend who rose like a Phoenix with them.
I'll get to the more memorable story in a minute, but first let's pour one out for Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray. Rafael Nadal has seen his once brilliant career fade oddly the past two years. Injuries have always been present, and the guy who was the clear #3 in the 'Big-4' has basically caught him career-wise at this point, but he was actually having a really nice season until he hurt his wrist in the French Open. He wanted to play the Olympics badly. Despite two major tournaments coming up, he wanted to play for Spain. He wanted to be the flag bearer during the Opening Ceremony - a title he cruelly had to give up when he was too hurt to play in 2012.
He came, and he did not go quietly into the night. The schedule became too tough to fit in mixed doubles, but he managed to win a Gold Medal in doubles with Marc Lopez (Rafa is actually a highly accomplished doubles player on tour, but for obvious reasons scarcely plays any), and then make a run to the Semifinals in singles. He was not perfect, definitely rusty at times, but the Rafa we saw this week was stronger both mentally and physically than he has looked in a long time. He was hitting deep and dominating rallies with both strokes. He was serving well, and moving well. If not for a player who decided to turn the clock back even further, he would walk away with another medal. For Rafa, this bodes well heading into the US Open, a tournament he, apart from last year, has always done rather well in.
He also showed the incredible passion that we love. With Federer not in Rio, he was the elder statesman, the crowd favorite. He lapped it up, and the Rio crowd helped him. The atmosphere inside almost all arena's in Rio has been incredible, but the tennis center was just crazy for all players. It definitely helped Murray.
For Andy, what more is there to say at this point. He is never going to be the equals of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer when it comes to singular accomplishments, but he should be remembered as a player far more than a guy who won three Slams. Now he has two Gold Medals (first player ever to do that). He has another signature win and moment. He is adding to a legacy that shouldn't need more hardware but does. For years, we felt sorry for Novak for having to play in the same era as Roger and Rafa. For Djokovic, he has taken full advantage of Roger's age and Rafa's injuries catching up to them these past three years. Now we can turn our sympathies towards Andy Murray, who has squeaked out enough hardware when those three weren't looking to have a Top-15 career himself - 'only' three slams be damned.
But let's be truthful, the medal may be silver, but the real winner of the tournament was Juan Martin del Potro. Let's take a quick trip back memory lane, shall we, to September 2009.
I hadn't started this blog at that time (I started a month later). Had I done so, I would have written 10,000 words over Juan Maritn del Potro's stunning 2009 US Open win. He was the first person not named Nadal, Federer or Djokovic to win a slam since the 2005 Australian Open. He had just turned 21 years old, and won the title after smoking Nadal in the Semifinals (6-2 6-2 6-2) and beating Federer in a memorable match to stop Federer from winning his 6th straight US Open. He took Federer down with one of the greatest displays of forehand hitting the sport had ever seen. Highlights of the match on Youtube from the BBC Feed are accompanied by the commentators just laughing at the sheer audacity of his strokes. He was the next big thing in the sport.
He doubled down by winning the World Tour Finals in December, and then making a run to the QFs of the 2010 Australian Open, and then it all went to Hell. He hurt his wrist and it required surgery. This would become, sadly, a horrifyingly common event. He missed the rest of the 2010 season, and came back in 2011 to very mixed results. It took him the full year to really get going, and in 2012, two years removed from the first injury, he was slightly 'back.' He made three QFs at slams, won the Bronze Medal in 2012 by beating Novak Djokvic in the Bronze-Medal match. He then took Djokovic to 5 amazing sets in the 2013 Wimbledon Semifinals, and then it went to an even worse level of Hell.
Juan Martin del Potro's 2014 and 2015 seasons basically amounted to nothing. Four different wrist surgeries - on both wrist. He was as close to retiring as possible. His outsized talent, and effacing personality, had set him up to be the next star. Instead, he was just the biggest 'what-if?' of the last 10 years of tennis, the heir apparent to Marat Safin. Though unlike Safin, it wasn't complacency that killed him, but his own body.
And then we got the past week. Juan Martin del Potro could retire tomorrow, and we will always have that week. He could easily break his wrist in the US Open and we may never see him again, but he had that week. Whether it was playing for his country (and there were a lot of people willing to support the Argentinean in Rio), whether it was playing in the same tournament that had his greatest accomplishment since the US Open win. Whatever it was, del Potro made this his time.
His 7-6 7-6 win over Novak Djokovic was enough by itself to make this memorable. Played in an insane atmosphere at night only matched by night matches at the Australian and US Opens, del Potro hammered Djokovic. He didn't allow the best returner ever to see a single break point. His forehand became the first stroke in years to actually completely outgun the world's best player. The best part, though, was the reaction by both men after the match ended. Their long hug at center court, del Potro breaking down in Novak's arms after exchanging words, likely Novak telling him how good it was to have the Gentle Giant of Tandil back in action. Then Novak himself breaking down in a way he rarely has after losing. Novak too is a man who adores playing for his country, and knowing this was likely his last chance at the elusive Gold Medal.
Somehow, though, del Potro was able to combine with Nadal to do it all over again. Since that 2009 match, their careers have both been marred by injuries, and rarely ever had their times when they were fit and ready actually matched, as Nadal had his, at the time, worst injury concerns in 2012-13, the brief period of del Potro's first renaissance. Together, finally, they produced magic. That match was as well played, hard fought, intense and when you combine the crowd, meaningful as a Grand Slam semifinal. The fact that it was two players who have had so much of their careers lost to injuries, making their respective comebacks in a tournament with nothing to gain besides pride and honor, and both players throwing everything at each other for three hours? That was tennis at its best.
The fact that del Potro won, and broke down moreso than I've ever seen from a player in a non-Grand Slam match, showed just how important this is still to him. He's still only 28, in a sport where the peak age has stretched moreso than ever, with little actual mileage on his body. His wrists may be ticking time bombs, but he must know that we are all hoping the same thing: that this is the beginning of an unlucky, but so incredible, third act.
The fact all of this happened at the Olympics, at a tournament with no prize money, with no ranking points (a change from previous Olympics), is all the more memorable. To be fair, had this exact tournament played out in this exact same way at the US Open next month, it would be incredible and I would write a lot about it. The fact that it was at the Olympics makes it all the better.
In reality, this is more a credit to this group of Men's players than anything else. For taking this tournament seriously. For taking the honor of representing their country seriously (Murray too carried the flag for the UK at the Opening Ceremony). For taking this all as an opportunity to play in front of crazy fans in a part of the world they rarely come to. For doing it all with such class, and emotion. I don't think anyone expected this from the 2016 Olympics, and when we look back at this tournament years from now, this will easily be lost behind headlines and snippets of Phelps, Biles, Bolt and Ledecky, but two of the Greatest Men's Tennis Players ever, and a recharged and readied former Prodigy combined to give us something amazing.
