Serena Williams adds to her sublime legacy with decisive gold medals in singles and doubles. Serena has career Golden Slams in singles and doubles now. Fodder for a GOAT debate? Speed Kills – Andy Murray took a huge step by winning 5 straight sets over Djokovic and Federer en route to a gold medal in…
Category: Olympic Tennis
Post Olympic Power Ranking
Dan Martin’s 2012 Power Rankings for the Week of August 6 through August 12 This is later than usual, but I had good reason for the delay. 1. Roger Federer – Federer has won 5 titles in 2012 including Wimbledon, he just added a silver medal to his career haul, and just turned 31. It…
Olympic Tennis Review 2008: The Best to This Point
In my review of Olympic tennis events, one trend emerged from 1988-2004: The Women’s Event Was Better than the Men’s. In 2000, a streaking Venus Williams went 3 tight sets in a semifinal tilt with the veteran Monica Seles. In 1988, Steffi Graf beat Gabriela Sabatini . The 1992, 1996 and 2004 games all delivered…
Serena Williams Nears Perfection in Gold Medal Win
Serena Shines in 6-0, 6-1 Win Serena Williams demolished Maria Sharapova. There really is not much else to say about today’s match. Both players like to dictate play and take control of a point early. Serena was better at dictating play and that made Sharapova a defensive player. Maria Sharapova is not a defensive player. …
Could a Tennis Player Win 8 Gold Medals in 1 Olympic Games?
With the addition of mixed doubles, a tennis player can certainly win 3 gold medals in one Olympic games. However, we found out in 2008 that 8 gold medals is the apex of Olympic achievements. Of course, I will ignore that swimming gives multiple medals for covering the same distance with different techniques and has…
Olympic Tennis Review: 2004 Chile Came to Play
2004 saw the the Olympic games once again fall between Wimbledon and the US Open. Much like the Atlanta games these games were held on a similar hard court surface to that of the US Open. This was more desirable than the red clay of the 1992 games, but the games being in Athens meant…
Olympic Tennis Review: 2000 Venus and YK Reign in Y2K
Like the Seoul Olympics of 1988, Sydney fell after the US Open. The easier schedule along with a somewhat solid 1996 for tennis led to another successful games. Venus’ 2000 Dominance Venus Williams won Wimbledon and the US Open in 2000. She posted a 35 match winning streak that spanned Wimbledon through the US Open…
Olympic Tennis Review: 1996 Better than It had a Right to Be
1992 Fallout Tennis in 1996 suffered despite being a logical tune-up for the US Open as the tennis events were held on hard courts in Atlanta, Georgia. Still, 7 of the top 10 men did not play the event. Andre Agassi was the #1 seed, but he was fresh off of a Wimbledon loss to…
Power Ranking for the Week of July 23 – July 29, 2012
Dan Martin’s 2012 Power Rankings for the Week of July 23 through July 29 1. Roger Federer – Fed has spent 288 weeks at #1 with at least a 289th week in the works. 2. Novak Djokovic – Novak won bronze in 2008. A gold medal would come with the #1 ranking. 3. Rafael Nadal – Rafa…
Olympic Tennis Review: 1992 The Women Delivered & The Men Did Not
The 1988 Olympic Games brought tennis back as a medal sport. Steffi Graf completed a “Golden Slam” in 1988, and the overall success of the tennis events brought about a great deal of excitement for the 1992 games. These games were held in Barcelona, Spain so Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario looked to be a major factor. The…
Tennis Abides: Dan Martin on Tennis and Life 