The Olympic Games are still ongoing and so are the disappointments. I've been watching gymnastics, athletics and tennis as well. Today I'd like to say a few words about what's happened in tennis and close the topic as well as the tennis Olympics is over.
As I said in my previous tennis post, one shock came after another and at that point we still had the semi-finals and the final. Since then, the competition is over and I needed a few days to be able to put my thoughts on paper.
The first or should I say the next shock in tennis came when Djokovic lost the semifinal to Zverev. The Serb is known for has self control, which gives everyone hope he's bullet proof, especially when the stress level is high. Unfortunately the resent events have shown this is not the case. Novak Djokovic is human after all and can lose his temper as well as can have a mental imbalance, that can cause him losing.
He had the chance to win the Olympic gold in Tokyo and then win the Golden Slam, in case he could win the remaining Grand Slam title. It would have been a huge performance, he would have made history as no man has been able to get the Golden Slam so far.
Instead he lost the semi-final to Zverev and had the chance to win the bronze medal, playing against the Spanish Pablo Carreño Busta. I was firmly convinced he would win, but I couldn't have been more wrong.
It looks like the mental shock he suffered after losing the semi-final was bigger than we first thought. He could not get himself together and lost the fight for the bronze medal and left empty handed.
The level of his frustration was visible with the naked eye, he broke two tennis rackets during the match, which is not like him at all.
He lost the chance to be the first man to win the Golden Slam and it's lost forever as who knows what's going to happen in 3 years.
Mental health is becoming a known issue in tennis as well and is affecting more and more players. They are usually good at hiding it as no one wants to be famous for mental health issues, but lack of self control on the court lets you know what's going on with them.
The first player representing the current generation, dealing with mental health and anger issues was the Australian player, Nick Kyrgios, who's behavior on and off court has been unacceptable sometimes.
Next came the Austrian Dominic Thiem at the beginning of this year who missed the most part of the season and the Olympics as well.
Then Naomi Osaka, who had to withdraw from Wimbledon recently.
As about Djokovic, unfortunately and event like this could have been anticipated. He has won the last 23 matches or so, which means he has played almost all the existing tournaments till the end as he has won most of them. He's not a robot, not bullet proof.
The question is how is he going to recover from this. Losing the Olympics is bad, but losing the chance to win the Golden Slam forever is even more aggravating. I hope he can deal with the situation and can recover. It would be a shame to see him struggling mentally.
The biggest winner is obviously the German Alexander Zverev. He has won the Olympic gold and I think he still can't believe it. Knowing Djokovic is participating, chances for him to win were slim, but as we know, sometimes miracles happen.
Karen Khachanov and Pablo Carreño Busta are players who usually get to the quarter finals at best. Yet, here at the Olympics they knew how to take advantage of the situation and win an important medal. An Olympic silver and bronze is valuable as well. Not many get to play at the Olympics and only the best three can win a medal.
Andrey Rublev and Aslan Karatsev has won gold and silver at mixed doubles, which is also a remarkable performance. An Olympic medal is an Olympic medal, no matter at what you have been able to win it. Marin Čilić has also been able to win silver at men's double.
The US Open is next, a Grand Slam tournament, which is important for many. It's the last Grand Slam event of the year and I'm curious to see who's participating. I tried to run a search but could find nothing. Maybe the list of participants is not final, or I'm not capable of finding the list. I'm looking forward to it and also hope everyone can recover and participate. All hands on deck as that's the only way we can see a healthy competition.
Dominic Thiem is the title holder as Novak Djokovic got disqualified last year. Hopefully the Austrian can defend his title this year.
