Dsince in Se�l 88 he tennis officially returned to the Olympic Games and in them Emilio Sánchez Vicario and Sergio Casal to get on the podium, the sport of racquet, the old ‘white sport’ and now multicolored had seen reflected in the Olympic tournaments the strength of Spanish tennis in professional tournaments, men and women. But since nothing is eternal and sport is sport, andIn London 2012 the bump arrived, the first Olympic edition without a medal – although David Ferrer and Feliciano L�pez A single ball separated them from her. At Rio 2016 Rafael Nadal and Marc L�pez They ‘revenged’ them by taking the gold.
The ‘army’ went to Tokyo 2020 with confidence. Maybe older on the wing feminine because in the masculine A ‘generational change’ was being seen in which the ‘successors’ were not up to the level of their ‘elders’. It is true that he was difficult: Rafael Nadal could not take part in the Olympic event, in search of his third medal, due to physical problems. David Ferrer He had retired in 2019 and others had begun the inevitable decline due to age. On the other hand, the female representation was led by number 1 Garbi�e Muguruzawith the promising Paula Badosa and sarah you smile like shields In almost all the medal ‘pools’ it appeared accounted for one from Garbi�e. In the end he got it right cipher -Spanish tennis got on the podium- but not with him name…
Not even with him g�nero. The medal was for men and the women did it very GOOD. Sara you smile gave the first bell of the Games by eliminating the number 1 seed, Asleigh Barty. Garbi�e advanced to the quarterfinals but was beaten by the Kazakh in the run-up to the medals Rybakina (who would later win Wimbledon). Paula had to retire in the quarterfinals due to a heat stroke -against Vondrousova, who would also win Wimbledon) and after beating a Swiatek which would soon be number 1. The medals would arrive in the hands of what came to be called the ‘second male unit’.
In that ‘second unit’ (Pablo Carre�o, Alejandro Davidovich, Pablo And�jar and Roberto Carball�s) served as leading theorist Pablo Carre�oone of those tennis players to whom the ‘big three’, Nadal Federer and Djokovic, ‘they condemned‘ to have less impact than they would surely have achieved under other circumstances. On the eve of Tokyo 2021, Pablo was around both 30 years old and in the ‘top 10’. had won t�tulos and reached final rounds of Grand Slam. Created as a tennis player at the prestigious school of Juan Carlos Ferrero, this tennis player from Gijón remained faithful to his origins, with his usual team and developing his career in a calm and sustained progression. The problem was that in times of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic The other tennis players were condemned to be ‘the other’.
And in Tokyo, with Djokovic in contention as the only favorite, a bit everyone else was that ‘other’. had won the Australian Open, Roland Garros – beating Nadal in the semi-finals – and Wimbledon. The dream of ‘Golden Slam‘-win the four Grand Slams and the Olympic Games, which no one had achieved since Steffi Graf and 1988– seemed within reach, but in Tokyo, in front of an empty stand due to pandemic restrictions, Alexander Zverev I beat him 1-6, 6-3 and 6-1 in the semifinals.
And so Novak Djokovic appeared again on the path of Spanish tennis. Pablo Carre�o He had also reached the semi-finals. He had started by beating the American Tennis Sand branch, at that time in good time. He then continued with the talented and tough Croatian fighter Marin Cilic (5-7, 6-4, 6-4) and then with the German Koepfer (7-6, 6-3). In the quarterfinals, paired with Daniil Medvedev, then number 2 in the world, played at his best in a match that the intense heat turned into hell. 6-2, 7-6 (5) and I move on to the fight for the medals. Karen Khachanov He closed the way to gold and silver (6-3, 6-3). So the bronze should have been played against Novak Djokovic.
Pablo and everyone were aware that, as always, Djokovic was favorite. However, in tennis it is not usual that a decisive match has to be played – a final for bronze is a final, after all. immediately after having lost, so it remained to be seen if psychologically – tennis is a very mental sport – the circumstance would affect one or the other. The theoretical difference was that, for Pablo, being there was already a �xito and for Novak, a decepci�n. And mental strength is not the best thing Djokovic has.
And indeed: in the match for bronze the tranquility and poise of Pablo, who was always focused on the match, weighed more than Djokovic who after the match admitted to being physically and mentally exhausted. Maybe thinking too much about the missed opportunity, it was irregular, irascible -one of the photos taken during one of his protests during the game has become a popular internet ‘meme’– could not resist Pablo who won 6-4, 6-7 (6) and 6-3. After seeing dominated In the first set, they recovered enough to achieve more successes than errors and force the third set but, in it, with the strength of both at the same time. l�mite Due to the heat and humidity, it was Pablo who went up a step and went to a 3-0 that turned out to be insurmountable. Novak He threw the racket towards the empty stands but also saved five match balls. Went to the Friday when the man from Gijon won his medal. The gold ended up going to Khachanov but Pablo closed the tournament not only entering the history of Spanish sports but also winning, in the same event, to number 2 and number 1 in the world. Neither have so many people done it…
