Whilst the country has banned international spectators from attending amid fears of the virus being spread, organisers say up to 10, domestic fans will be allowed to attend the Olympic venues. Rafael Nadal is missing the event in order to take a break from the sport following what was a demanding clay court swing.
The Wimbledon Championships concludes two weeks before it begins and the US Open starts five weeks after. Two of the biggest events in the sport which offer the highest amount of prize money and ranking points per round. Have they won an Olympic medal before? How important is it to them? Do they want to travel to Asia in the middle of the summer? Tennis was officially reintroduced into the Games back in after being showcased as a demonstration sport four years prior.
It is different to Tour events with no official prize money on offer. However, some countries such as Russia have previously issued financial rewards for athletes who win medals.
Another sticking point is there being no ranking points available for players participating. Perhaps due to the complex governance of the sport with the Olympic event being run by the ITF. We the ITF are always open to discussion on the matter. Another issue concerns the location. Players face having to travel from Europe to Asia and then North America within a month.
A journey made substantially more difficult than usual due to restrictions related to the pandemic. Despite the surge in withdrawals which will most likely increase in the coming weeks, other top names have committed to playing. The remarkable decision is a show of solidarity with Peng Shuai who many fear is being censored by Chinese officials for accusing a former vice-premier of sexual assult. Something the country denies with state-backed media publishing videos and photos of the player.
While we now know where Peng is, I have serious doubts that she is free, safe and not subject to censorship, coercion and intimidation. The bold move has been hailed by many across social media ranging from tennis players to celebrities. Over the past 15 years China has injected millions into developing tennis within the country. However, the country has been unable to host another edition due to the COVID pandemic and it was instead held in Mexico this year.
Perhaps from a cynical perspective, the pandemic showed to the WTA that they can still hold a highly successful Tour without relying on a single country during one period of their calendar. Would this influence their decision to withdraw from China in support of Shuai?
Probably but they are unlikely to admit it. There is also the question as to how will China respond? Will a country that has spent so much trying to promote tennis be prepared to make some deal with the WTA in order to get them to change their minds? Pound has been a spokesperson for his organisation in defending their handling of Shuai and has told multiple news outlets that she is safe based on what the IOC interpreted from the video call. One of which involved Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, who made a comment in public supporting the democracy movement in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong.
Photos and videos of the tennis player have only been published on Twitter which is blocked in her home country. Users are banned from quoting, sharing or commenting on her historic posts.
It would have been so easy for the WTA to sidestep the Shuai case and label it as a domestic matter in order to maintain their relationship with the Asian country. Instead, they have backed their player despite the likely consequence of a financial loss should China not back down. Something that is both brave and inspiring. Only time will tell on that front. The most important thing is trying to establish the true welfare of Shuai.
Something the WTA is determined to do no matter what the cost may be. The oldest member of that iconic trio is, of course, year-old Roger Federer. He was joined by year-old Rafael Nadal and year-old Novak Djokovic. It has been an era unlike any other in the history of tennis as these superstars have enthralled fans in every corner of the globe with their talent, tenaciousness and temerity.
But as the curtain closes on and the Nitto ATP Finals have just concluded in Turin, it is becoming increasingly likely that the sport is currently moving into a fascinating new era. Federer may not return to competitive play until the summer of By then he will be closing in on his 41st birthday, and the feeling grows that he will not be around much longer in the upper echelons as a player. He might even decide to retire by the end of this coming season.
Nadal is hoping he can resume his winning ways swiftly when he returns to Melbourne for the Australian Open, and surely wants to round into his finest clay court form across the spring before heading to Paris for a serious bid at a 14th French Open crown. The depth of his determination knows no bounds, but the fact remains that his task of reclaiming a place at or near the top of the game will be daunting. Perhaps Nadal will reinvent himself once more and redefine his greatness in the process, but there are no guarantees.
The first six months of will be critical for the redoubtable Spaniard and he will have the chance to make himself a central figure again, but if his foot remains problematic Nadal might be heading toward the closing stages of his illustrious career.
Despite an abbreviated campaign of only seven tournaments and 29 matches , the dynamic Spaniard finished his record 17th consecutive year among the top ten in the world at No. Djokovic, of course, is coming off one of his most exhilarating campaigns. In , he moved within one match of winning the Grand Slam, sweeping three majors in a row to tie Federer and Nadal at 20 in total, finishing his seventh season at No. Djokovic claimed two other titles during his spectacular campaign including a recent triumph at the ATP Masters event in Paris.
Although the Serbian was beaten in a pulsating semifinal at the ATP Finals by Sascha Zverev— and thus was unable to take a sixth title at the season-ending tournament—the fact remains that he celebrated one of the three greatest years alongside and of his astonishing career, and he still stands deservedly alone at the top of is craft.
Zverev won that prestigious title for the second time by upending defending champion and US Open victor Daniil Medvedev in the title round contest. In my view, Djokovic will find himself in frequent combat over the next couple of years against both the German and the Russian on the premier stages in the sport. To be sure, Medvedev has not yet demonstrated an affinity to play the same brand of lofty tennis he has exhibited on hardcourts when he shifts to clay and grass courts.
He reached his first quarterfinal at Roland Garros this year after four first round defeats on the Paris clay in the preceding years, and has yet to advance that far on the lawns of Wimbledon. At the All England Club, he has never made it to the quarterfinals, although he was one set away this year from going that far before losing to Hubert Hurkacz. That is a modest accomplishment, but still an indication of what he can do on his least favorite surface.
I have no doubt that Medvedev will make major inroads on the other surfaces in the next few years, even if his preference will still be competing on hard courts. As for Zverev, he has displayed his versatility and virtuosity for quite some time. As long ago as , this gifted individual won Masters crowns on both clay and hard courts in Rome and Canada.
He took a second Masters clay court crown in at Madrid. And this year he was victorious in two more Masters events, succeeding on clay again in Madrid and on hardcourts in Cincinnati. Like Medvedev, Zverev has struggled inordinately on grass at Wimbledon and has yet to make it past the fourth round.
But the feeling grows that he will adapt in due course to the lower bounces and turn himself into a formidable grass court player. It is simply no accident that Medvedev and Zverev have established themselves as the second and third best players in the world.
That is a status they have irrefutably earned. No one won more titles on the ATP Tour this year than Zverev, who finished his best season yet with six. Moreover, he collected the gold medal at the Olympic Games, although no ATP points were available at that prestigious event. Zverev closed the season by capturing four of his last seven tournaments in a hardcourt blaze. Medvedev was only marginally better than Zverev in , securing his first Major by upsetting Djokovic in New York, losing to Djokovic at the Australian Open and Paris Masters finals, and winning the Canada Masters title in Toronto.
He won four titles in addition to reaching two major finals and coming though for the first time on one of the premier stages. Beyond what they did on their own, both Zverev and Medvedev pushed Djokovic to the hilt in riveting rivalries. Zverev and Djokovic clashed on five occasions in with the Serbian prevailing in the series, although Zverev won two of their last three clashes. Medvedev was against Djokovic. Djokovic now holds a career lead against Medvedev and he is versus Zverev. But what makes it all so compelling is that Medvedev and Zverev both improved significantly over the course of the season and their standards are so high that they will keep forcing the ever open-minded and singularly flexible Djokovic to raise his game.
I believe Djokovic is up to that considerable task and will at least hold his own with his two toughest younger rivals in and , but Zverev is only 24 and Medvedev They are just approaching their primes. Djokovic is stretching his prime as long and as far as he possibly can.
I can envision some classic confrontations among this accomplished trio in the coming years. Djokovic will be preoccupied with moving permanently past Federer and Nadal into sole possession for the most majors ever taken by a man, but achieving that mission will be determined to an extent by how he fares against Medvedev and Zverev.
They will be his chief adversaries. Meanwhile, the rivalry between Zverev and Medvedev will be fascinating to follow as well. The Russian warrior had toppled the German competitor five times in a row leading up to the final in Turin, including a narrow triumph during the round robin portion of the ATP Finals.
Medvedev broke Zverev once in the course of winning the first set but neither man garnered a break the rest of the way. Zverev took the second set in a tie-break. On they went to settle it all in a third set tie-break, and Zverev moved out in front On the crucial seventh point, he sent his normally trustworthy two-handed backhand down the line and into the net without being provoked.
Medvedev climbed back to and then Zverev squandered another opportunity. Zverev was set up for a backhand down the line that would have given him the point, but drove it long.
Although Zverev saved a pair of match points from 4—6 down, he was eventually ousted 3 6. In that clash, there was only the thinnest margin separating the two players. They would meet again, of course, with the stakes much higher in the final, but more on that skirmish later. Despite the disappointment of a narrow failure against Medvedev, Zverev prevailed in his two other Red Group round robin assignments in Turin against an injured Matteo Berrettini 7 ret. The world No.
Djokovic and Zverev had pushed each other to their physical and emotional limits in all four of their previous meetings across The Serbian had triumphed in the final set at the ATP Cup before eclipsing Zverev again in a come-from-behind four set Australian Open quarterfinal.
Zverev had turned the tables on Djokovic in the semifinals of the Olympic Games at Tokyo, rallying from a set and a break down to win before garnering the gold medal easily over Karen Khachanov.
The rivalry was renewed in New York at the US Open when Djokovic surpassed Zverev in the fifth set of a stirring semifinal showdown. Proving that the past is indeed prologue, these two magnificent players produced another blockbuster in Turin. The level of play was nothing short of stupendous, especially over the first two sets.
At the end of the first set, both men created space for crucial opportunities. Zverev was serving at in that opening set when Djokovic went to work with quiet ferocity.
He reached set point with a crackling backhand down the line that was unanswerable. Zverev met that moment commendably, unleashing a MPH first serve out wide in the ad court.
On the following point at deuce, Zverev went for broke with a dangerous MPH second serve down the T, and Djokovic was unable to get it back into play.
Zverev held on gamely for In the eleventh game, Djokovic found himself perched precariously at And then, at , Djokovic played a point that was so extraordinary he could only smile incredulously at what he had just done when it was over.
Once more, he served-and-volleyed. Djokovic stayed low, picked up the backhand half volley immaculately, and sent that shot sizzling down the line with improbable pace and excellent depth. On the run, Zverev had no play at all. Djokovic took the next two points to hold on for and then reached 0—30 in the following game. But Zverev swept four points in a row to reach a tie-break, producing a clutch backhand volley winner, putting away an overhead, releasing a superb service winner, and lacing a backhand winner down the line with cool precision.
Zverev outplayed Djokovic in the tie-break , benefitting from a double fault at by Djokovic— the first all tournament long from the Serbian. Djokovic retaliated with a service break at in the second set, and soon sealed the set. But, to the chagrin of himself and his legion of supporters, Djokovic played one poor game at in the third set that cost him the whole match. He was broken in that game entirely on his own mistakes, making three unforced errors off the forehand and one off the backhand.
Zverev was ahead It then raises an interesting question: Do athletes receive any rankings points at the Olympics along with the medals? Significantly, one of the questions was about the rankings points. The last time points were offered at the Olympics was the London Olympics. Despite the rankings points, most athletes are eager to represent and win the gold for their country. However, the ongoing pandemic outbreak has also caused numerous withdrawals.
Most importantly, the top two-ranked men and women will take part in the Games. Additionally, the record two-time Olympics champion Andy Murray would also try for a hat trick this year. The tournament begins on July 24 and will conclude in a week. You may like. Belinda Bencic battles past Marketa Vondrousova to win gold in Tokyo. Click to comment. By Ubaldo Scanagatta. By Adam Addicott. By Staff. Latest Popular Videos.
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