OLYMPIC TENNIS: Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig delivered a surprise to the tennis world yesterday by beating Angelique Kerber to claim the island country’s first ever gold in an individual sport, and today Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro will try to keep the upset spirit alive when he faces Andy Murray in the men’s gold medal match. First, though, Japan’s Kei Nishikori will compete for bronze against the great Rafa Nadal. Here’s a quick look at both matches:
BRONZE MEDAL MATCH
Rafa Nadal (1.67) vs. Kei Nishikori (2.42)
Professional tennis players aren’t used to competing the day after a loss, but Nadal and Nishikori must dust themselves off and adjust their goals a bit now that the top spot on the podium is out of reach. I’m sure neither man wants to leave Rio empty-handed, though, so I expect a spirited match today when they meet on centre court. Nadal has dominated the head-to-head series, beating Nishikori 9 out of 10 times and only dropping two total sets in those nine wins, but he expended a tremendous amount of energy in a nail-biting three-set loss to Juan Martin Del-Potro yesterday so it’s anybody’s guess how he’ll respond. Further clouding the situation is the fact that Nadal revealed in his post-match press conference that he still isn’t fully healthy and would be rehabbing were it not for the Olympics. In fairness, he looked plenty spry against Del Potro and really played a gutsy match, but bettors now have to consider two questions on Nadal: how dejected is he? and, how injured is he?
Nishikori is all clear on the injury front, but there was nothing at all “gutsy” about his loss to Andy Murray yesterday, as he was simply blown off the court in just 17 games. He’s on his best surface, though, and even after losing to Murray he’s won 13 of his last 16 hard court matches, so he’s been playing good tennis. And though his record against Nadal is poor, he did beat him for the first time in last year’s Canadian Masters and has won at least 4 games in 10 of the 11 hard-court sets that they’ve played. Nishikori would become only the second Japanese man in history to medal in tennis, so he has plenty to play for, and he should be physically fresh, at least, after yesterday’s drubbing. Nadal is an all-time great who will surely show heart and competitiveness worthy of the Olympic Games, but I’m going with the mild upset here. Recommendation: Nishikori at 2.24; Nishikori 2-1 (sets) at 4.7
GOLD MEDAL MATCH
Andy Murray (1.25) vs. Juan Martin Del Potro (4.7)
Watching Juan Martin Del Potro’s thrilling win over Rafa Nadal yesterday and the over-the-top (yet totally understandable) celebration that followed, you can’t help but wonder whether the Argentine will have any gas left in the tank. After all, this is a man who missed much of the past two years with a wrist injury and has sunk to 141st in the world rankings– not exactly the guy you expected to knock off Djokovic and Nadal en route to the gold medal match. He made it, though, and as he laid flat on his back across the Olympic logo, wearing an expression of pure joy and satisfaction, he certainly looked like an athlete who had reached a career pinnacle of some sort. I sure hope he enjoyed it, because I’m afraid the good times are about to come to an end.
Andy Murray is playing the best tennis of his career at the moment, that’s hardly disputable, and there’s simply no one hotter in the world. He really turned it on yesterday after somewhat lackadaisical performances against Fabio Fognini and Steve Johnson, blasting Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-4 and putting to rest any notion that his focus is wavering in these Olympics. Indeed, Murray is on the cusp of history– no male tennis player has ever won two Olympic golds, and after getting the job done in the 2012 games Murray needs only a win today to become the first to achieve that historic feat. Del Potro did manage to beat Murray the last time they met, but that was way back in 2013 and the Scot is a much different player now. Don’t expect any drama here– this will be more like a coronation. Recommendation: Murray at 1.25; Murray 3-0 (sets) at 2.44
