By Bob Greene
STARS
Olympics
Men’s Singles: Andy Murray beat Roger Federer 6-2 6-1 6-4
Bronze: Juan Martin del Potro beat Novak Djokovic 7-5 6-4
Women’s Singles: Serena Williams beat Maria Sharapova 6-0 6-1
Bronze: Victoria Azarenka beat Maria Kirilenko 6-3 6-4
Men’s Doubles: Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra 6-4 7-6 (2)
Bronze: Richard Gasquet and Julien Benneteau beat David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (4) 6-2
Women’s Doubles: Venus Williams and Serena Williams beat Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 6-4 6-4
Bronze: Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova beat Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond 4-6 6-4 6-1
Mixed Doubles: Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi beat Laura Robson and Andy Murray 2-6 6-3 10-8 (match tiebreak)
Bronze: Lisa Raymond and Mike Bryan beat Sabine Lisicki and Christopher Kas 6-3 4-6 10-4 (match tiebreak)
Other Tournaments
Alexandr Dolgopolov beat Tommy Haas 6-7 (7) 6-4 6-1 to win the Citi Open men’s singles in Washington, DC, USA
Magdalena Rybarikova beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1 6-1 to win the women’s singles at the Citi Open in Washington, DC, USA
Igor Sijsling beat Sergei Bubka 6-1 7-5 to win the Odlum Brown Van Open men’s singles in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Mallory Burdette beat Jessica Pegula 6-3 6-0 to win the Odlum Brown Van Open women’s singles in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
SAYING
“I would love to win Wimbledon, for sure. But this felt good. I wouldn’t change this for anything right now. I keep my medals, my trophies, in one room in my house. This will go in front of all of them.” – Andy Murray, after winning the men’s singles gold medal.
“For me, it’s been a great month. I won Wimbledon, became world number one again, and I got silver. Don’t feel too bad for me.” – Roger Federer, following his lopsided loss to Andy Murray.
“I got the gold. I’m just so happy I don’t know what to do. I’ve never played better. Playing against Maria you have to be at your best. I knew that. She won the French Open, she never loses this year. She’s playing the finals of everything, so I knew it was going to be tough.” – Serena Williams.
“Serena was playing incredibly confident tennis today, particularly considering how windy it was. A silver medal means a lot to me. It’s always disappointing to lose in the final but it’s great to get a medal in my first Olympic Games.” – Maria Sharapova, following her loss to Serena Williams in the women’s singles gold medal game.
“We all talk about this, ‘We have so many medals,’ but to be able to add to that, it’s like an unbelievable feeling. You know that in that count, there you are. It feels amazing.” – Venus Williams, after capturing her third women’s doubles gold medal.
“Venus has been going through so much and she’s so strong and so she’s so amazing. And to win this was my goal.” – Serena Williams, after teaming with sister Venus to win the Olympic women’s doubles.
“Don’t feel too bad for me. I felt like I won my silver, I didn’t lose it. So I feel really happy.” – Roger Federer, after losing the gold medal match to Andy Murray.
“I made a few errors and she hit a few winners, and things can go quickly in tennis.” – Venus Williams, following her 7-6 (5) 7-6 (5) loss to Angelique Kerber.
“Baby steps, I guess. It’s been amazing to achieve what I have achieved. Obviously growing up you have big dreams and hopes of winning your certain favorite tournaments. I’ve been fortunate to win all the Grand Slams, and obviously this is my first Olympics, so I’m just thrilled to be in the final.” – Maria Sharapova, after beating fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko in the women’s semifinals.
“It is a sprint, not a marathon.” – Roger Federer, referring to the men playing best-of-3 sets in the Olympics instead of best-of-5 normally played on the grass at Wimbledon. They play best-of-5-sets in the final only.
“I’m just enjoying myself. It’s just a great vibe to have the USA fans and all the other countries’ fans that come out and root really, really hard. It’s an unbelievable experience.” – Serena Williams, on the Olympic experience.
“We know that Wimbledon will be Wimbledon again next year. But right now it’s the Olympic Games.” – Roger Federer, commenting on the raucous and spontaneous atmosphere at Wimbledon during the Olympics.
“This is the biggest win of our career right here. It’s unbelievable.” – Bob Bryan, after teaming with brother Mike to win the Olympic men’s doubles gold medal.
“To play on Centre Court at Wimbledon and win the gold medal is a dream come true. We could stop tomorrow and we got a big smile on our face for the rest of our lives. This one is dedicated to you guys (their parents, Kathy and Wayne). We love you. Mum, thanks for all the hard lessons every day for two hours. Dad, you ran the best clinics.” – Mike Bryan.
“It’s incredible. We have the medal for all of our life. It’s crazy for us. We did it so it’s incredible, but we don’t believe it now.” – Richard Gasquet, who teamed with Julien Benneteau to win the men’s doubles bronze medal.
“He’s a shot-maker, and he goes for his stuff. When he’s on, he’s tough. Boy, he’s tough.” – Tommy Haas, after losing to Alexandr Dolgopolov in the final of the Citi Open.
SUPER ANDY
Just four weeks after breaking down in tears when he lost the Wimbledon final to Roger Federer, Great Britain’s Andy Murray crushed his foe to win Olympic gold in the men’s singles. Murray needed four minutes less than two hours to demolish Federer 6-2 6-1 6-4. Five times Murray has been in the final of a major tournament. Federer handed him three of his four losses. But Murray got sweet revenge on the grass court at the All England Club, handing Federer his worse defeat in a major final since he was thrashed by Rafael Nadal in the 208 French Open final. “When I look back on the match, it will be one that I’ll look at as the biggest win of my career for sure. It’s definitely one of the best matches I played,” Murray said. “I dealt with all the situations that were in front of me well. I have lost some tough matches. Yeah, I’ve had a lot of questions asked about me many times. I’m just glad that today I managed to put on a performance.”
SUPERLATIVE SERENA
Move over Steffi Graf. Here comes Serena Williams playing through. Playing astonishing tennis the entire tournament, Serena crushed Maria Sharapova 6-0 6-1 to win the women’s singles gold medal at the London Olympics and complete a Super Golden Slam. Like Graf, Williams has won all four Grand Slam tournaments – the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open – and an Olympics singles gold medal. Graf’s husband, Andre Agassi, is the only other player to complete a career Golden Slam. Williams, however, has done even better. She is the first player to add an Olympics doubles gold medal to the Golden Slam.
Serena needed just 63 minutes to race past Sharapova in the fewest games in a women’s singles final in the history of the Olympics. The previous shortest final was at the 1920 Antwerp Games when Suzanne Lenglen defeated Dorothy Holman 6-3 6-0.
It was Serena’s 44th career title, breaking the tie she had with her sister Venus as the leader among active players. She is now 10th all time
SISTERS DOING IT
Venus and Serena Williams keep rewriting the record book when it comes to the Olympic Games. The sisters became the first tennis players to win four Olympic gold medals when they captured the women’s doubles, besting Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in the final. Venus and Serena had won doubles gold at the Sydney Games in 2000 and in Beijing four years ago. Both also have captured singles golds, Serena at London this year and Venus at Sydney. The sisters join Spain’s Conchita Martinez as the only tennis players to win medals at three different Olympics. “It was so exciting to win the singles, but like I said at the beginning of the tournament my goal was to get gold in doubles here,” Serena said. “There’s something about standing next to Venus and holding that gold medal. Three times we’ve played, three times we’ve got the gold medal, so we are pretty stoked about it.” Venus and Serena said they are planning on playing in the Rio De Janeiro Olympics in 2016. “We’re definitely planning on playing at the Rio Games (in 2016). We’re going out with a bang in Rio. Hopefully we will make it four. You never know.”
SENT PACKING
With most of the world’s top players completing in the Olympic Games, Alexandr Dolgopolov won her first ATP World Tour 500 event title by stopping veteran Tommy Haas 6-7 (7) 6-4 6-1. Dolgopolov’s previous finals, including his only other title, came in the lower-ranked 250-level tournaments. Ranked 25th in the world, Dolgopolov noted he plays a high-risk game. “It’s a part of me, my personality,” he said. “I like risking in life, so I do that on the court. I’m just a risky person. I don’t think about the percentage. I like to do it my way.’”
SWISS TIME
Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina battled through the longest three-set men’s singles match in the Open Era. Federer needed 4 hours, 26 minutes to outlast del Potro 3-6 7-6 (5) 19-17. The previous longest men’s three-set singles match in time played was in the semifinals at Madrid in 2009 when Rafael Nadal downed Novak Djokovic 3-6 7-6 (5) 7-6 (9) in 4 hours, 3 minutes.
“I definitely got a sense that it was something special,” Federer said of the lengthy battle. “The deeper we went into the match, the more I thought, ‘Wow, this is so cool to be part of a match like this.’”
They weren’t the only ones putting in overtime on the grass courts at Wimbledon.
Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the fifth seed, and Canada’s Milos Raonic played the longest three-set Olympic match in terms of number of games in the second round. Tsonga won the men’s singles marathon 6-3 3-6 25-23 in 3 hours, 57 minutes. The third set, which lasted 43 games, was the longest set in Olympic tennis history. Before this year, the previous records for the most games in a three-set match (63) and the longest set (38 games) were set at the 1988 Seoul Games in a first-round women’s doubles match in which Carling Bassett-Seguso and Jill Hetherington of Canada defeated the Argentine duo of Mercedes Paz and Gabriela Sabatini 7-6 5-7 20-18.
The fifth-seeded men’s doubles team of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek needed 4 hours, 21 minutes to eliminate Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares 1-6 6-4 24-22. It was the longest three-set men’s doubles match in terms of number of games (63) in Olympic tennis history. The 46 games played in the third set were the longest men’s doubles set at the Olympics.
SPECIAL FOR BELARUS
Victoria Azarenka wound up with a gold medal anyway. Ranked number one in the world, Azarenka was routed in the singles by eventual gold-medal winner Serena Williams. But she teamed with fellow Belarusian Max Mirnyi to win the first Olympic mixed doubles medal tournament since 1924. The two beat men’s singles champion Andy Murray and his partner, Laura Robson, 2-6 6-3 10-8 (match tiebreak). “It’s definitely very different emotions and a very different accomplishment from being number one in the world and winning the Australian Open,” said Azarenka. “It has been a dream come true for me to achieve gold because I think every athlete in the world is dreaming about this prize to get. You don’t get so many chances.” It was Belarus’ first gold medal in Olympic tennis. Azarenka earlier won bronze in the women’s singles, beating Maria Kirilenko.
SINGULAR FEAT
By besting Novak Djokovic in straight sets, Juan Martin del Potro won Argentina’s first medal of the London Olympics, a bronze medal in tennis. “I’m the most happy man in the world at this moment,” del Potro said after his 7-5 6-4 win. “After a really sad day two days ago, it’s not easy to recover and to play these kinds of matches. But I had energy in my body, in my heart, and that helped me face this big challenge.” The Argentine was talking about his marathon loss to Roger Federer in the semifinals. “I know everybody in Argentina was following this match, trying to give me the power to play my best tennis. I really appreciated that. I think this gift is for all our country,” the 23-year-old said. Even Federer was impressed with del Potro’s victory. “I came out and I saw Juan Martin. I said, ‘Wow. Great effort. I’m so happy for you after the brutal loss,” Federer told del Potro. “I don’t think many were favoring Juan Martin to win that match. That was a great, great effort.”
SWITCHING SPORTS
The Olympic women’s gold medalist will be talking football this week. Serena Williams, along with Melania Trump and Condoleezza Rice, will be appearing in ads promoting team-themed apparel and gear in a campaign called “It’s My Team.” The outfits include fitted blazers, burn-out T-shirts and earrings. Williams and her sister Venus are limited partners in the Miami Dolphins. In her ad, Serena wears the colors in a graphic T-shirt paired with a dressy little black jacket. The ads will be in September issue magazines. Tracey Bleezinski, vice president of NFL consumer products, notes that 45 percent of NFL fans are female, “and that continues to grow,” she said. “We do have something for everyone, and this campaign aims to communicate that if you are living and wearing football, you can do it every day, year-round.”
SIGNED
Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, who won Wimbledon in 2011, has been issued a wild card entry into the New Haven Open. Kvitova is ranked sixth in the world, giving the tournament five of the top 10. Others entered into the August 17-25 event at Yale University include second-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, eighth-ranked Carolina Wozniacki of Denmark, ninth-ranked Sara Errani of Italy and 10th-ranked Marion Bartoli of France.
SHARED PERFORMANCES
Vancouver (men): Maxime Authom and Ruben Bemelmans beat John Peers and John-Patrick Smith 6-3 6-0
Vancouver (women): Olivia Rogowska and Julia Glushko beat Jacqueline Cako and Natalie Pluskota 6-4 5-7 10-7 (match tiebreak)
Washington (men): Treat Huey and Dominic Inglot beat Kevin Anderson and Sam Querrey 7-6 (7) 6-7 (9) 10-5 (match tiebreak)
Washington (women): Shuka Aoyama and Chang Kai-Chen beat Irina Falconi and Chanelle Scheepers 7-5 6-2
SURFING
Olympic Games: www.london2012.com/tennis/
Washington: www.citiopentennis.com/
Vancouver: www.vanopen.com/
Toronto: www.rogerscup.com/
Montreal: www.rogerscup.com
Aptos: http://seascapesportsclub.com/challenger/
San Marino: www.atpsanmarino.com/
Cincinnati: www.cincytennis.com
Cordenons: www.euro-sporting.it/challenger/
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
(All money in USD)
MEN
$2,648,700 Rogers Cup, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, hard
$104,694 San Marino Cepu Open, San Marino, clay
$100,000 Cal Open Tennis Championships, Aptos, California, USA, hard
WOMEN
$2,168,400 Rogers Cup, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, hard
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
MEN
$2,820,280 Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, hard
$105,000 Friuladria Tennis Cup, Cordenons, Italy,
WOMEN
$2,108,400 Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, hard