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Another first for Rafa?
Rafael Nadal will be crowned world number one on Monday, and he’ll probably be Olympic champion too. Nadal faces Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez in Sunday’s final.
Updated : Sep 18, 2017, 11:35 PM IST
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Spaniard starts as the hot favourite to win singles Olympic gold on debut
BEIJING: Rafael Nadal will be crowned world number one on Monday, and he’ll
probably be Olympic champion too. Nadal faces Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez in Sunday’s final and on current form, an upset looks unlikely.
Nadal would become the first player ranked in top-five to win a Olympic gold medal if he manages to beat Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez today. He has already won two grandslams and five other ATP titles this season.
Any lingering doubts about the new pecking order in men’s tennis have been erased here, with Nadal passing the sternest of tests against Novak Djokovic while Federer fell by the wayside.
Nadal, 22, arrived in Beijing looking tired and content to rest on his laurels after ending
Federer’s five-year Wimbledon run on his way to finally reaching the top ranking. After a slow start against Potito Starace he has gone from strength to strength, dismantling Lleyton Hewitt and Igor Andreev before the high-quality three-setter with Djokovic.
“It’s a dream to be in the final. When I arrived here, I didn’t expect to be it,” he said. “I arrived very tired, with a lot of matches, without playing my best tennis. But during the week I felt better and better.”
Gonzalez’s achievements in securing his second straight medal, after his 2004 bronze, have been overshadowed by a sportsmanship row. US number one Blake was furious at the Chilean after their semi-final, claiming he touched a ball which went out at a crucial moment in the deciding set. Gonzalez shrugged off the controversy as he goes in search of his second Olympic title. As well as singles bronze, he also won the doubles with Nicolas Massu in 2004. “If I’m 100 percent sure about it, I will give it. But I’m not sure. I’m just moving, that’s all,”
he said. And a tournament notorious for upsets has lived up to its name with Federer and the Williams sisters falling in the last eight. However, Nadal has stepped up a gear this season and looks a formidable opponent in his last match as world number two.
