Novak Djokovic, Williams Sisters Team Fall In Olympics - Mondays with Bob Greene

Novak Djokovic, Williams Sisters Team Fall In Olympics – Mondays with Bob Greene

STARS

Rio Olympics

Juan Martin del Potro beat top-seeded Novak Djokovic 7-6 (4) 7-6 (2)

Zheng Saisai beat fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4 7-5

Kirsten Flipkens beat fifth-seeded Venus Williams 4-6 6-3 7-6 (5)

Anna Karolina Schmiedlova beat sixth-seeded Roberta Vinci 7-5 6-4

OTHERS

Nick Kyrgios beat John Isner 7-6 (3) 7-6 (4) to win the BB&T Atlanta Open in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Irina-Camelia Begu beat Timea Babos 2-6 6-4 6-3 to win the Brasil Tennis Cup in Florianopolis, Brazil

Duan Ying-Ying beat Vania King 1-6 6-4 6-2 to win the Jiangxi Women’s Tennis Open in Nanchang, China

Jason Jung beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-4 6-2 to win the 2016 International Challenger Chengdu in Chengdu, China

Frances Tiafoe beat Marcelo Arevado 6-1 6-1 to win the Challenger Banque Nationale De Granby in Granby, Quebec, Canada

SAYING

“We’re good friends and we know each other’s games.” – Barbora Strycova, explaining why she and Lucie Safarova teamed up to hand Venus and Serena Williams their first career Olympic defeat.

“I wasn’t playing the way I needed to play. I wasn’t crossing the way I need to cross.” – Serena Williams, taking the blame for the first Olympic doubles loss suffered by her and sister Venus.

“I realized I had to make the most of the situation. If the forehand wasn’t working, I needed to use the backhand more.” – Irina-Camelia Begu, following her win over Timea Babos in the Brasil Tennis Cup final.

“It was a difficult final emotionally, especially as I felt I had it in my hands, then only at the end I realize I’ve lost.” – Timea Babos.

“I’m happy to be in the second round but I’m very sad to see a friend with a serious injury.” – Thomaz Bellucci, worried about Dustin Brown after the German was forced to retire when he severely injured his left ankle in their first-round match.

“I spent three days in an airport so that was not the best preparation. I could have used more practice. I just didn’t have enough time.” – Agnieszka Radwanska, who lost her first-round Olympic match after taking 55 hours and two trans-Atlantic flights to travel from Montreal to Rio de Janeiro.

“When you feel the appreciation and they enjoy it so much, that’s why I’m playing this sport, even after three hours, they’re still screaming your name all over the place. It’s unbelievable. I’m from Belgium; I’m not even from Brazil. I want to know what it is like when you’re a Brazilian guy playing on the center court.” – Kirsten Flipkens, after upsetting Venus Williams at the Rio Olympics.

“I’m very happy. It’s important for me to play well again and it was an unbelievable star. I played well mentally with strong concentration all match.” – Rafael Nadal, after winning his first-round match against Federico Delbonis 6-2 6-1.

STUNNER

Juan Martin del Potro continued his Olympic dominance over Novak Djokovic and knocked the world’s top-ranked player out of a chance for a medal for the second straight Games. This time the Argentine battered Djokovic in their first-round encounter. Four years ago, in London, del Potro won their bronze-medal battle. Injuries have kept del Potro off the tour for long periods of time. There was nothing wrong with his game against Djokovic as del Potro finished with 41 winners, most coming off his rocketing forehands.

SECOND TITLE

His not going to the Olympics has paid off for Nick Kyrgios. The Australian beat three-time defending champion John Isner to win the BB&T Atlanta Open. “I knew it was going to be tough from the get-go,” Kyrgios said. “John is still so comfortable on that court. I needed to come up with some special stuff today and it just came down to a couple points here and there. I did all the right things today and stayed calm.” Isner, who has reached the Atlanta final in six of the tournament’s seven years, was seeking to become just the fifth active player to win the same tournament four consecutive times and join Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Kei Nishikori. Kyrgios trailed love-40 in his opening service game, but reeled off five straight points to hold serve. “Returning is very crucial against John,” Kyrgios said. “That serve is world-class. It would have been a completely different story if he got me there.” It was the Australian’s first career match win over Isner and gave Kyrgios his second ATP World Tour title.

STREAK ENDS

Sisters Venus and Serena Williams lost an Olympic doubles match for the first time, ousted from the Rio Games 6-3 6-4 by the Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova. “We played terrible,” Serena said, “and it showed in the results.” Until their first-round ouster, the American sisters had a 15-0 career Olympic record, winning the women’s doubles gold medal in 2000, 2008 and 2012. The two were top-seeded in Rio after winning their 14^th Grand Slam tournament title at Wimbledon a month ago. Not only had neither Safarova nor Strycova ever won an Olympic doubles match, they weren’t even supposed to be playing in Rio. But when Karolina Pliskova withdrew from the event, Strycova replaced her as Safarova’s partner. In the only other time Safarova and Strycova played together, in a Fed Cup match last year, they lost.

STIRRING COMBACK

Irina-Camelia Begu didn’t begin the Brasil Tennis Cup final as if she would wind up with the title. “I was a little bit tense and focusing too much on the negative rather than the positive things I was doing,” Begu said. “Then I realized I had to make the most of the situation.” She did just that to capture the third career title. “I think it was more mental because I really wanted to win the title,” the Romanian said. It was Timea Babos who jumped out on top, easily winning the opening set 6-2. After Begu leveled the match at a set apiece, Babos again dominated, winning the first two games of the decisive set. The Hungarian won just one more game as Begu won the title before traveling to Rio de Janeiro to compete in the Olympics.

SIDETRACKED

It was a bad week for Agnieszka Radwanska. The fourth seed from Poland had played in Montreal last week, but was stranded in the Canadian city when her connecting flight to Miami was canceled due to a mechanical failure. Radwanska flew to New York, but adverse weather in Florida made change her flight plans once again. Radwanska flew to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from New York via Lisbon, Portugal. Then she ran into China’s Zheng Saisai, who pulled off a 6-4 7-5 upset. “She didn’t play her best tennis,” Zheng said. “I know she arrived late, so I am really lucky.”

STAYING HOME

An ailing Venus Williams saw her 4-1 lead in the final set disappear along with her chances to win yet another Olympic singles gold medal. Instead, Kirsten Flipkens ripped off three straight games and pulled off the upset of the 36-year-old American, who faded badly in the closing stages of the match. Using spins and slices and the entire court, Flipkens rallied to win 4-6 6-3 7-6. Williams did break her opponent in the 12^th game to force a tiebreak, but Flipkens prevailed the extra session 7-5. “I knew I had to do something special to beat Venus because if I’m playing with her from the baseline I know I’m not going to be able to win the match,” Flipkens said. Later, USA Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez said Williams was ill. “Unfortunately, Venus has been sick for a few days, is really ill right now,” Fernandez said when Williams chose not to speak to the media. “She tried to get through that match, almost got to the finish line. But she’s been dehydrated with some cramps, upset stomach. A bit of bad luck and bad timing that everything came together at this juncture for her. But she fought. She gave it her best out there.” Williams was the first tennis player to participate in singles at five Summer Games.

SICK CALL

The Slovak Tennis Association said Dominika Cibulkova will miss the Rio Olympics because of an injury to her left leg. Ranked 11^th in the world, Cibulkova was the fifth player in the WTA’s top 20 to pull out of the Games.

SECURITY LAPSE

Australian Olympic officials say a laptop and team shirts were stolen while their building in the athlete’s village was being evacuated because of a small fire. The head of the Australian delegation, Kitty Chiller, said computer equipment had been “rifled through,” but was left behind during the theft. Despite the problem, Chiller said the Australian delegation felt safe in Rio and that security at the village “seems to have been stepped up.”

SISTER TO SISTER

The Rodionova sisters were added to the Australian Olympic squad at the last moment. “Today we were notified that there was a withdrawal from the women’s doubles and as first reserves Anastasia and Arina Rodionova have now received a place,” Australian team chief Kitty Chiller said. “The girls will be our ninth set of siblings in the Australian Olympic team. The Rodionova sisters last played together at the French Open in May.

SEVENTH GAMES

His seventh Olympics ended bitterly for Leander Paes. He and teammate Rohan Bopanna lost their first-round men’s doubles match to Poland’s Lukas Kubot and Marcin Matkowski 6-4 7-6 (6). That came after it was rumored that Paes refused to stay in the athletes’ village and did not want to share a room with Bopanna. “It was unfair I was targeted,” the Indian star said. “It wasn’t fair that some people said I didn’t want to stay in the village or share with Rohan. It was a personal shot and it upset me. It’s not right that people write the wrong information.” The doubles loss came on the 20^th anniversary of his bronze medal in singles at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

STUCK

Juan Martin del Potro battled an elevator before playing his first-round match against top-ranked Novak Djokovic. The Argentine right-hander was stuck for 40 minutes in an elevator in Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic Village. The 2009 US Open champion has just returned to the ATP World Tour after undergoing his latest surgery. Currently ranked 145^th in the world, del Potro leaving the Olympic Village to go to the tennis facility when the elevator he was riding suddenly shut down. While waiting in the dark, del Potro took a selfie and posted it on a social site. The tennis star was finally rescued by members of the Argentine handball team.

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Atlanta: Andres Molteni and Horace Zeballos beat Johan Brunstrom and Andreas Siljestrom 7-6 2) 6-4

Chengdu: Gong Mao-Xin and Zhang Ze beat Gao Xin and Li Zhe 6-3 4-6 13-11 (match tiebreak)

Florianopolis: Lyudmyla Kichenok and Nadiia Kichenok beat Timea Babos and Reka-Luca Jani 6-3 6-1

Granby: Guilherme Clezar and Alejandro Gonzalez beat Saketh Myneni and Sanam Singh 3-6 6-1 12-10 (match tiebreak)

Nanchang: Liang Chen and Lu Jing-Jing beat Shuko Aoyama and Makoto Ninomiya 3-6 7-6 (2) 13-11 (match tiebreak)

SURFING

Rio de Janeiro: www.itftennis.com/olympics/home.aspx

Los Cabos: www.abiertoloscabos.com/es/

Aptos: www.seascapesportsclub.com/

Cincinnati: www.wsopen.com/

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