love-rio-the-2016-olympic-and-paralympic-tennis-events

Love
Rio
CELEBRATING THE 2016 OLYMPIC
AND PARALYMPIC TENNIS EVENTS

Brazil’s three-time Grand Slam winner Gustavo Kuerten carries the Olympic torch
into the Maracana Stadium during the Rio 2016 Olympic Opening Ceremony

Images, left to right:
Bronze medallist Petra Kvitova
An Olympic fan
Angelique Kerber took silver for Germany
Monica Puig created history as Puerto Rico’s first Olympic gold medallist
The Games of the XXXI
Olympiad saw a string
of captivating moments
on the field of play
against its arresting backdrop
of mountains and beaches,
but few sports at Rio 2016 saw
excitement with such regularity
as the tennis.
The sport, just like its striking
red-and-yellow coloured Centre
Court that enjoyed a prominent
position near the entrance to the
Barra Olympic Park, stood loud
and proud in the carnival capital.
The Olympic Tennis Event
was littered with thrilling
matches, stunning upsets and
even relative home success, and
highlighted by historic singles
wins for both Andy Murray
and Monica Puig. The latter’s
triumph, in particular, read like
a fairytale.
Puig upset three Grand Slam
champions – Garbine Muguruza,
Petra Kvitova and Angelique
Kerber – on her way to recording
by far the biggest sporting
achievement her country has
ever seen. Indeed, the world
No. 34 managed to clear the
streets back in Puerto Rico, as a
large majority of the 3.4 million
population in her homeland
crowded around televisions to
watch the 22-year-old capture
the nation’s first-ever Olympic
gold medal.
The first woman from the
North Caribbean island to win
any kind of medal at a Games,
Puig ended her incredible
week by defeating Kerber, the
season’s standout player, with
yet another fearless display. She
cracked 54 winners in a 64 46 61
final victory that was fuelled by
the flag upon her chest, as much
as anything else.

“It’s just amazing,” Puig said. “I
know my country really appreciates
this, and I really wanted to give this
victory to them. I just achieved one of
my biggest dreams.”
Murray, too, hit new heights
in country colours, even if his gold
medal was rather more widely
anticipated than Puig’s. Already the
reigning Olympic champion, having
defeated Roger Federer to win gold

Images, left to right:
Centre Court at the Barra Olympic Park
Britain’s Andy Murray became the first player to win singles gold twice
Kei Nishikori handed bronze to Japan
The men’s final was an epic encounter
Juan Martin del Potro’s dream run ended with silver
at London 2012, Murray finally
felled Juan Martin del Potro 75
46 62 75 in an gruelling men’s
final that lasted four hours and
two minutes to become the
first player in history to win two
singles gold medals.
“The fact that it hasn’t been
done before obviously shows
that it’s very hard. I’m very proud
to have been the first one to
have done that,” said Murray
after fighting through what he
later described as “one of the
hardest matches that I’ve had to
play for a big, big title”.
Del Potro had blasted
world No. 1 Novak Djokovic
off the court in straight sets in
the opening round, and it was
only Murray’s sheer bloodymindedness
that prevented him
from suffering a similar fate in a
gripping gold medal match. Del
Potro’s forehand was seemingly
more ferocious than it had been
before all his wrist troubles,
and it required every ounce of
Murray’s resolve to dismantle the
gentle giant. That same steely
trait served the world No. 2 well
throughout his time in Rio. Twice
he had to recover from a break
down in the deciding set earlier
in the week, eventually seeing
off Fabio Fognini in the third
round, and Steve Johnson in the
quarterfinals.
While Murray made history,
del Potro delivered a week of
performances equally worthy
of a place atop the podium.
Not since January 2014, when
he won the title in Sydney, had
Del Potro managed to string
four straight wins together at
tour level. At the Olympics, he
managed five – seeing off two of
the top three seeds in Djokovic
and Rafael Nadal, whom he
dispatched in three thrilling sets
in the semifinals, 57 64 76(5),
to guarantee himself silver and
upgrade his bronze medal from
London 2012.

Images, left to right:
Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau’s silver was Romania’s first Olympic tennis medal
Flying the Brazilian flag
It was a golden moment for best friends Marc Lopez and Rafael Nadal
USA’s Jack Sock and Steve Johnson won bronze
“This will be for the rest of
my life on my mind,” said the
emotional Argentine. “I never
thought something like this [could
happen] at the beginning of the
tournament. It’s like a dream.”

Nadal, for whom the Olympics
also marked a return to form
following a wrist injury that had kept
him off the tour since May, had a
tournament to remember too.
The 2008 Beijing gold medallist
had made it his mission to compete
in Rio having missed the chance
to defend his title at London 2012
because of a knee injury, and took
great pride in carrying the
Spanish flag in to the Maracana
Stadium at the Opening
Ceremony, something he said
“will stay in my mind for the rest
of my life.”
On court, Nadal’s efforts
were rewarded with another
gold medal, this time
alongside
compatriot Marc Lopez after the
pair defeated Florin Mergea and
Horia Tecau 62 36 64 in a highquality
men’s doubles final.
“It was [an] amazing
experience, especially doing that
with one of my best friends, with
Marc, is something unforgettable
for me. For both of us,” said the
30-year-old Manacor native,
who became only the second
man to win gold medals in both
singles and doubles since tennis
returned to the Olympics as a
full medal sport in 1988.
Nadal came up just short
of winning another medal in
singles, falling to Kei Nishikori
62 67(1) 63 in the bronze medal
play-off. The latter secured
Japan’s first Olympic tennis
medal in 96 years, and their third
in history. It was an apt stage for
Nishikori’s success, given that
Brazil is home to the world’s largest
Japanese population outside of his
motherland.
The Brazilian crowd had a
little less to shout about after they
were left to mourn the demise of

Images, left to right:
Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina fulfilled a long-cherished dream of winning gold for Russia
Bronze medallists Barbora Strycova and Lucie Safarova felled the Williams sisters in the first round
The Barra Olympic Tennis Centre
Swiss silver medallists Timea Bacsinszky and Martina Hingis

arguably their best medal hope
– the men’s doubles team of
Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares in
the quarterfinals – but Sao Paulo
native Thomaz Bellucci provided
several high notes in the singles,
defeating two seeded players in
a plucky run to the quarterfinals
that cranked up the noise on
Centre Court to deafening levels.
It was perhaps fitting that the
women’s doubles final was won
by Ekaterina Makarova and Elena
Vesnina, given that the Russian
duo had endured a nightmare
journey to the Brazilian capital
that nearly derailed their hopes
of fulfilling a lifelong dream.
Having been held up in Montreal
where they had won the title the
previous week, the pair made the
most of being in Rio once finally
there – beating Swiss pair Timea
Bacsinszky and Martina Hingis to
the gold medal.
“We wanted an Olympic
medal, especially gold medal,
since we were juniors,” said
Makarova. “We’re so happy
that we won two Grand Slams,
but the Olympic Games for us
means much more. Our dream
came true.”
Serena Williams, meanwhile,
endured a torrid Olympics by her
sublime standards. Both she and
sister Venus had hoped to claim
their fifth gold medals to extend
their joint-record for most golds
won in Olympic tennis, but only
Venus came away from Rio
with a medal after taking silver
alongside Rajeev Ram in the
mixed doubles.

World No. 1 Serena, later citing
a shoulder injury, was dumped out
of the singles by Elina Svitolina in
straight sets in the third round,
while Venus lost to Kirsten Flipkens
in her opening match. It was a story
of similar woe for the sisters in the
doubles, as the top seeds fell in
the first round to eventual bronze
medal winners Lucie Safarova and
Barbora Strycova.
In spite of a tough
tournament for the Williams
sisters, Americans still enjoyed
a healthy presence on the
podium. Jack Sock and Bethanie
Mattek-Sands edged Venus
and Ram to gold in a tight
mixed doubles final, while Sock
doubled up with Steve Johnson
to take bronze in the men’s
doubles. Madison Keys was
perhaps unlucky not to come away
with a medal, her otherwise fine
tournament ending with backto-back
defeats to Kerber in the
semifinals and Kvitova in a three-set
bronze medal play-off.
The power of the Olympics was
perhaps most evident in the reaction
of Radek Stepanek, who was close to
tears after securing mixed doubles
bronze alongside Lucie Hradecka
to ensure five Czech players took
tennis medals home from Rio.
“I can compare this with
the Davis Cup finals… I think the
nicest, deepest and strongest
emotions you can only achieve
when you play for your country,”
said Stepanek, the first Czech
male to win an Olympic
tennis medal in 28 years. “It is
something amazingly special.”
Images, left to right:
Venus Williams won her fifth Olympic medal, teaming to mixed doubles silver with Rajeev Ram
Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock won the all-American mixed doubles final
Brazilian support in the stands
Bronze medallists Radek Stepanek and Lucie Hradecka ensured five Czech tennis medals in Rio

Images, left to right:
Gael Monfils had a match point for the semis but lost his quarterfinal to Kei Nishkori
Madison Keys lost the bronze medal match to Petra Kvitova
Home hope Thomaz Bellucci reached the last eight
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic was stunned by Juan Martin del Potro in his first match
Four-time gold medallist Serena Williams fell in the third round

RIO 2016 OLYMPIC TENNIS HONOUR ROLL
Women’s singles
Gold: Monica Puig (PUR)
Silver: Angelique Kerber (GER)
Bronze: Petra Kvitova (CZE)
Men’s singles
Gold: Andy Murray (GBR)
Silver: Juan Martin del Potro (ARG)
Bronze: Kei Nishikori (JPN)
Women’s doubles
Gold: Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina (RUS)
Silver: Timea Bacsinszky and Martina Hingis (SUI)
Bronze: Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova (CZE)
Men’s doubles
Gold: Marc Lopez and Rafael Nadal (ESP)
Silver: Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau (ROU)
Bronze: Steve Johnson and Jack Sock (USA)
Mixed doubles
Gold: Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock (USA)
Silver: Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram (USA)
Bronze: Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek (CZE)

Unlike some other
Paralympic sports,
wheelchair tennis is not
about setting records,
even if the quad doubles bronze
medal match did last a record
four hours and 25 minutes. It’s
about raising the bar, figuratively
speaking, and in that respect the
sport succeeded wonderfully in Rio
on its seventh official appearance
at a Paralympic Games.
Wheelchair tennis has come a
long way since its first Paralympic
appearance as a demonstration
event at Seoul 1988. It became
a full medal sport at Barcelona
four years later. And to think that
its founder, Brad Parks, was once
advised by a leading figure in
wheelchair sport that wheelchair
tennis would never succeed.
Try telling that to gold
medallists Gordon Reid, Jiske
Griffioen, Dylan Alcott and all the
other Paralympians at Rio 2016
who kept large crowds enthralled
throughout the eight days of
competition at the Barra Olympic
Tennis Centre.
Images, left to right:
Dylan Alcott now has Paralympic gold medals in both wheelchair tennis and wheelchair basketball
Jiske Griffioen’s gold continued Dutch domination in Paralympic women’s singles
Gordon Reid won the battle of the Brits in the men’s final
British supporters

Images, left to right:
It was doubles gold for France as Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer triumphed
Great Britain’s Alfie Hewett caused multiple upsets on his way to singles silver
Shingo Kunieda teamed with Satoshi Saida for doubles bronze, Kunieda’s only medal at Rio 2016

The standard in the men’s
singles and doubles was so high
that Shingo Kunieda, the twotime
defending Olympic singles
champion, was compelled to
remark with the dignity we have
come to expect of this great
champion: “I need to improve
more – like the British guys.”
The Japanese player had set his
sights on another medal but fell
in the quarterfinals.
Wheelchair tennis didn’t just
entertain those with a penchant
for racket sports. It reached out
to all those sports fans who enjoy
nothing more than to see a sport
keenly contested at the highest
level with skill, flair, determination
and not least a deep respect for
the opposition.
Frenchman Stephane
Houdet, the world No. 1 singles
player, said before the Paralympic
tennis competition began that
the men’s event would produce a
surprise but hopefully not at his
expense. As it turned out, there
was a surprise and it was at his
expense, at least as far as the
singles was concerned.
Houdet was beaten by Reid
75 62 in the semifinals, and Reid
went on to capture gold in an
all-British men’s final, defeating
the surprise finalist Alfie Hewett
62 61. Hewett may have lost
the decider, but the 18-year-old
won the hearts of many with his
enthusiasm and self-belief that
he could beat more experienced
and better qualified players
than himself, which he did not
once but on three consecutive
occasions to reach the gold
medal match.
The British pair also reached
the men’s doubles final, where
for once in this Paralympic tennis
event, experience had the final

Images, left to right:
Aniek van Koot won a silver medal in singles and her first Paralympic gold in doubles with Jiske Griffioen
Belgium claimed its first Paralympic tennis medal thanks to Joachim Gerard’s singles bronze
Yui Kamiji secured singles bronze for Japan
Marjolein Buis and Diede de Groot ensured more Dutch success as they won doubles silver
word, 45-year-old Houdet
and his solid younger partner,
Nicolas Peifer, defeating Reid
and Hewett 62 46 61 to
take gold.
Houdet was shut out of
a podium place in the men’s
singles when Belgium’s Joachim
Gerard won their bronze medal
match. The men’s doubles
bronze medal went to Kunieda
and Satoshi Saida, who defeated
compatriots Takuya Miki and
Takashi Sanada.
Netherlands’ Jiske Griffioen,
the favourite and world No. 1,
became the fourth different
Dutch female Paralympic tennis
champion when she came from
a set down to defeat compatriot
Aniek van Koot 36 61 64 in
the final.
For Griffioen it capped a
year in which she’d already won
her third and fourth Grand Slam
singles titles, and the icing on
the cake was teaming with van
Koot to collect doubles gold the
following day, the pair beating
fellow Dutch duo Marjolein Buis
and Diede de Groot 64 62.
Griffioen and van Koot have
said that they may not be around
for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics,
but it was obvious from the
growing maturity of 19-year-old
de Groot that the future of Dutch
wheelchair tennis is in safe hands,
just as the seven-time Paralympic
champion Esther Vergeer
intimated it was several months
ago. De Groot also contested the
bronze medal play-off, losing to
Yui Kamiji.
The diminutive Kamiji
won’t want for motivation
in Tokyo nor support – and
one doesn’t just mean
from the Japanese.
More popular figures
in this sport than
Kamiji and her
compatriot
Kunieda it would
be hard to find.

Briton Jordanne Whiley
had dared to come to Rio with
real conviction that she could
be the one to break the Dutch
domination, but her hopes and
dreams were dashed by a wrist
injury early in the competition.
She did at least claim the bronze
medal in women’s doubles with
Lucy Shuker, the pair defeating
Kamiji and Miho Nijo.
The quad athlete Alcott had
set his heart on winning gold in
a second sport after his success
in basketball at Beijing 2008
and subsequent silver medal in
London. But he never expected
gold in two wheelchair tennis
events: quad singles
and doubles.
The 25-year-old from
Melbourne lived up to his No. 1
ranking and defeated Britain’s
Andy Lapthorne 63 64 in the gold
medal match, a day after taking
quad doubles gold with his good
friend Heath Davidson, who was
returning to the sport after a
ten-year hiatus. The Aussie pair
ended the reign of three-time
defending Paralympic champions
Nick Taylor and David Wagner of
USA, who settled for silver.
Bronze honours in the quad
division went to Wagner, who
overcame South Africa’s Lucas
Sithole in the play-off, and Brits
Jamie Burdekin and Lapthorne,
who won that marathon men’s
doubles bronze medal match
over Itay Erenlib and Shraga
Weinberg of Israel.

Images, left to right:
Jamie Burdekin and Andy Lapthorne won quad bronze, and Lapthorne also went home with singles silver
Dylan Alcott captured quad doubles gold with Heath Davidson before winning singles gold
Three-time Paralympic champions Nick Taylor and David Wagner won quad silver this time around
Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley contributed doubles bronze to Great Britain’s haul of six Paralympic tennis medals

Images, left to right:
Israel’s Itay Erenlib and Shraga Weinberg lost a marathon quad doubles bronze medal match
Brazil’s Natalia Mayara reached the second round of her home Games
Gustavo Fernandez missed out on securing a first Paralympic tennis medal for Argentina, losing in the quarters
South Africa’s Lucas Sithole lost a 5-1 lead in the final set of his quad bronze medal match against David Wagner
Zhu Zhenzhen was one of two Chinese women’s quarterfinalists, alongside Hui Min Huang

RIO 2016 PARALYMPIC TENNIS HONOUR ROLL
Women’s singles
Gold: Jiske Griffioen (NED)
Silver: Aniek van Koot (NED)
Bronze: Yui Kamiji (JPN)
Men’s singles
Gold: Gordon Reid (GBR)
Silver: Alfie Hewett (GBR)
Bronze: Joachim Gerard (BEL)
Women’s doubles
Gold: Jiske Griffioen/Aniek van Koot (NED)
Silver: Marjolein Buis/Diede de Groot (NED)
Bronze: Lucy Shuker/Jordanne Whiley (GBR)
Men’s doubles
Gold: Stephane Houdet/Nicolas Peifer (FRA)
Silver: Alfie Hewett/Gordon Reid (GBR)
Bronze: Shingo Kunieda/Satoshi Saida (JPN)
Quad singles
Gold: Dylan Alcott (AUS)
Silver: Andy Lapthorne (GBR)
Bronze: David Wagner (USA)
Quad doubles
Gold: Dylan Alcott/Heath Davidson (AUS)
Silver: Nick Taylor/David Wagner (USA)
Bronze: Jamie Burdekin/Andy Lapthorne (GBR)

Photography: Ray Giubilo, Anibal Greco, Sergio Llamera and Paul Zimmer
Text: Jamie Renton and Clive White
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