Olympic Tennis: Men’s Singles Gold Medal Match Prediction
After tasting victory in a thrilling semifinal match with Rafael Nadal, Juan Martin Del Potro goes for gold against Andy Murray on Center Court at the Olympic Tennis Center.
One player was the highest seed at the bottom half of the draw and expected to make the final at the beginning of the week.
The other was expected make his first round match against world number one Novak Djokovic competitive, but few expected the 27-year-old Argentine to come out on top. Del Potro did get the better of Djokovic in London for the bronze medal, but that was four years ago, and it would be an understatement to say things have changed since then.
Instead, both men have made it to Sunday with an equal chance to win gold for their country.
He is already the favorite for comeback player of the year honors, and his performance this week is the story of the tennis season even if he leaves Rio with silver.
Injuries have kept the former world number seven from fully taking advantage of his talent, and after needing three operations on his left wrist earlier this year, Del Potro was ready to call it a career.
People often forget that these athletes are human beings to, and knowing what Del Potro has gone through, not just physically but mentally, its easy to understand why he wanted to give up.
Instead, Del Potro’s love for the game won out one more time, and boy he is glad it did. After completing yet another comeback with a great run at Wimbledon in June, Del Potro has proven everybody wrong.
Now he has a chance to add icing on the cake with the ultimate prize for any athlete in any sport; a gold medal. That is bigger than a grand slam, and a Masters 1000 event because being the champion this week is for your country, and the pride that comes with that has to top any other professional win.
This is the only event in sport where finishing second or third feels like winning it all; that above all else makes these games special.
More from Lob and Smash
- Caroline Wozniacki gets her wild card for the Australian Open
- Tennis News: Rafael Nadal, Emma Raducanu and protected rankings
- Martina Navratilova: Money lost by coming out was in the ‘millions’
- Tennis News: Novak Djokovic, Nick Kyrgios and Matteo Berrettini
- Boris Becker and Rick Macci bicker over Carlos Alcaraz
If Del Potro is to capture the biggest win of his career and firmly put his name back in the echelon of the sport’s elite, he is going to have to a couple of things well in particular.
The slower hard courts certainly favor Del Potro’s ground strokes, but his first serve and his powerful forehand is going to have to be powerful and mistake free, and given the pressure that both men will feel, starting when they walk onto the court, that is a lot to ask.
His opponent certainly wont make it easy. Murray, the current world number two and Wimbledon champ, is playing the best tennis of his career right now. In the previous 15 Olympic Games that tennis has had full recognition, nobody has won back-to-back gold medals. Murray has that chance, and you better believe that he want’s it just as badly as Del Potro.
To make history, Murray will have to dictate the longer rallies and the big points just as he did against Nishikori. However, against Del Potro’s big forehand return especially on this surface, the biggest key for the Brit will be to dictate the point with his first serve, and to vary speed and location with his second serve, ideally with more of them ending up on Del Potro’s backhand side.
The biggest x-factor, and the variable that will decide the result of this match in my mind is Del Potro’s conditioning.
Andy Murray needed 79 minutes to defeat Kei Nishikori in straight sets to reach the final. To accomplish the same goal, Del Potro needed over three hours, and given the state of his health, a best of three five set match is to much to overcome. I sure hope I’m wrong because it’s hard to not pull for the Argentine.
Here is a quick update on the bronze medal match: After Nishikori took the first set comfortably 6-2, Nadal fought back to take the second set in a tiebreak 7-6 and force a deciding third set for the last spot on the podium.
Stay with Lob and Smash for more coverage of the final day and a recap of the championship match in Los Cabos!