Gold at last for TMF
Roger Federer finally wins his first Olympic gold, but not in the singles event. He and tennis doubles partner Stanislas Wawrinka beat Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.
From the LA Times Olympics blog (Emphasis is mine.):
“Fittingly, the gold-medal match was on Federer’s racket. He served at 5-3 of the fourth set, 2 hours 59 minutes into the final. He got it to 40-15, hit a wide serve to Johansson and watched the return float wide. Then he jumped in the air three times like a 10-year-old.
“At the medals ceremony, when they played the Swiss national anthem and Federer and Wawrinka stood on the highest platform, both were clearly on the edge of tears.
“In three tries, Federer, for years the top singles player in the world and the winner of 12 major titles, has failed to win a medal in Olympic singles. Turns out, he was just playing in the wrong event.”
I had been waiting for any of The Fed’s matches to be shown on C/S since the station had an exclusive deal to air the Olympics and was affiliated with/owned by Solar Sports. We needed to upgrade our cable subscription if we wanted to be able to tune in to Solar, and that was an option that I did not even want to consider; it was highway robbery. It turns out that C/S was more interested in airing the useless basketball and boxing matches. Please, C/S, stick with the X-Files and Buffy reruns.
As Irony would have it, when I finally caught a tennis match airing last night (or was that at 3AM this morning?), it was the semis between Nadal and Djokovic. Wedgie boy won. I’m still wondering how the heck Djoker blew that point, (Hello! Drop shot, anyone? Long Pants was miles away at the back of the baseline.) though it was heartbreaking to see him sob on his way out of the stadium. For now, he’d have to be content with a bronze win.
As for the classy player, I hope that this win helps him defend the US Open title, which some analysts say, still won’t help him retain the no. 1 ranking. But hey, a slam is a slam.
This is too cute to not share.
SIDE NOTE:
So, China’s hopes of sweeping all five golds in badminton crumbled when Indonesia won in men’s doubles. I don’t know who’s bringing home the gold in singles, though. Will it still be Lin Dan? ::Yawn:: While I know he outclasses everyone in the field, I’d be happy to see anyone but him (or his mates) bring home the gold. Come on, diversity is exciting. It just might help the sport get more media attention.
“Fedrinka” photos and video from RF.com members. Pic with a collapsing dude from the Olympics site
