The start of Tennis at the Olympic Games has already ended.
In this article, we address the real reasons that guided several tennis players, especially within the top 50, to give up on the competition and who were the top seeds.
In this article, we address the real reasons that guided several tennis players, especially within the top 50, to give up on the competition and who were the top seeds.
Which athlete does not aspire to be present at the Olympic Games and defend the colors of his nation? The answer, at the outset, is clear, but, it seems there are athletes from a sports that runs outside the rule: tennis.
The sport of tennis in the Olympic Games lost several players of weight, both male and female. Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Simona Halep and Serena Williams were at the top of this list of absences, which we outline below.
Withdrawals from the men's tennis competition at the Olympic Games
Rafael Nadal (3rd), Dominic Thiem (6th), Matteo Berretini (8th), Roger Federer (9th), Denis Shapovalov (10th), Roberto Bautista (14th), Casper Ruud (16th) .), Cristian Garín (18th), Alex De Minaur (19th), David Goffin (20th), Grigor Dimitrov (21st), Milos Raonic (22nd), Jannik Sinner (23rd). º), Daniel Evans (28th), Stan Wawrinka (30th), Cameron Norrie (32nd), Reilly Opelka (33rd), John Isner, 34th, Borna Coric (35th) , Albert Ramos (41st), Adrian Mannarino (42th), Dusan Lajovic (43rd), Filip Krajinovic (44th), Federico Delbonis (48th), Lloyd Harris (50th).
Withdrawals from the women's tennis competition at the Olympic Games
Sofia Kenin (4th), Bianca Andreescu (5th), Simona Halep (9th), Victoria Azarenka (14th), Serena Williams (16th), Angelique Kerber (22nd), Karolina Muchova (24th), Cori Gauff (25th), Madison Keys (26th), Daria Kasatkina (31st), Sorana Cirstea (37th), Johanna Konta (38th), Shelby Rogers (40th). ), Svetlana Kuznetsova (41st), Danielle Collins (49th), Tamara Zidansek (50th).
With these withdrawals, only half of the top 10 of the world hierarchy will be present in Tokyo: Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev.
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The main reasons behind the withdrawals from the tennis tournament at the Olympic Games
Tennis and the Olympic tournament have always gone backwards, as competition has never been an important part of the season. However, the prestige of winning the Olympic medal and the pride of defending their nation's colors, makes many seek this goal. But this year marked by the pandemic, it promises to be an exception to the rule.
The first and most obvious reason why most players quit was the direct or indirect influence of the pandemic. We must not forget that this is why the Olympic Games were postponed in 2020.
Furthermore, Tokyo remains one of the most affected areas with new cases of Covid-19. What leads players not to participate in the event ranges from the fact that they test positive and there is no time to recover in time to the security measures imposed by the organization - examples of this are the cases of Alex de Minaur, Daniel Evans and the northern tennis player American Coco Gauff.
🙏🏾❤️🤍💙 pic.twitter.com/lT0LoEV3eO
— Coco Gauff (@CocoGauff) July 18, 2021
One of the main restrictions that helped many players to give up going to the Olympic Games was the fact that each athlete could only take a very limited group of people. Are even left out of this list from physical trainers to psychologists. This was a strong reason for American tennis player Serena Williams to give up, as she could not see herself accompanied by her daughter Olympia. In addition, the famous “bubble” will prevent players from socializing with each other and watching other events, even in other modalities.
Still, the real reason seems to be another. The calendar of male and female circuits has been very demanding for players, who end up not having much rest time to replenish energy and mentally recover for the next challenges. After a grueling series of games in Europe, with the Olympics at the door and the US Open — the last “major” of the season — at the end of August, we'll have players traveling between three continents in just over a month.
The importance that each tennis player attaches to each competition weighs in when it comes to giving up or not. In the case of Tennis at the Olympic Games, it is no exception. Despite the pride of representing a nation, the Olympic Games are a non-profit competition for players or earning points towards classification, at least for part of the tournament. This model makes many give priority to the Grand Slam.
Last but not least, there is the issue of injuries, a consequence of the demanding schedule and age, as is the case of the Swiss Roger Federer, or the absence of spectators in the stands, which in most tournaments has had a full house. .
As is the case in most tournaments that result in withdrawals, the organization ends up replacing these athletes with others, respecting the world hierarchy. However, as we saw recently in the European Football Championship, the last minute call ends up conditioning the athletes' lives and performance.
Novak Djokovic, number one in the ATP ranking, who after some mystery surrounding his participation or not in the Olympic Games ended up going. The Serb can reach an enviable mark on his resume, if he gets the gold medal and wins the US Open — last Grand Slam of the season — he would win the so-called Golden Slam, which includes winning all four Grand Slams and the Olympic Games in the same year. To date only Steffi Graf, in 1988, has achieved this remarkable feat. If he does, he will be definitively given the title of GOAT (best ever).
With the theme of absences closed, we will now look at the list of heads-of-seeds: especially in women, the show is safeguarded.
Men's top seeds for the Olympic Games
1st Novak Djokovic, 2nd Daniil Medvedev, 3rd Stefanos Tsitsipas, 4th Alexander Zverev, 5th Andrey Rublev, 6th Pablo Carreño Busta, 7th Hubert Hurkacz, 8th Diego Schwartzman, 9 Felix Auger-Aliassime, 10th Gael Monfils, 11th Aslan Karatsev, 12th Karen Khachanov, 13th Lorenzo Sonego, 14th Ugo Humbert, 15th Nikoloz Basilashvili and finally 16th Fabio Fognini.
The female tops for the Olympic Games
1st Ashleigh Barty, 2nd Naomi Osaka, 3rd Aryna Sabalenka, 4th Elina Svitolina, 5th Karolina Pliskova, 6th Iga Swiatek, 7th Garbine Muguruza, 8th Barbora Krejcikova, 9. º Belinca Bencic, 10th – Petra Kvitova, 11th Jennifer Brady, 12th Elise Mertens, 13th Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 14th Maria Sakkari, 15th Elena Rybakina and lastly 16th Kiki Bertens.
