Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will kick off their Olympic campaigns during first-round action on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro. Djokovic is facing Juan Martin Del Potro, while Nadal is beginning his comeback against Federico Delbonis.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Juan Martin Del Potro
Djokovic and Del Potro will be squaring off for the 15th time in their careers when they collide at the Olympics–again–on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro. The familiar foes faced each other in the bronze-medal match at the 2012 London Games, where Del Potro triumphed 7-5, 6-4 on the grass courts of the All-England Club. Djokovic, however, is dominating the head-to-head series 11-3 and he has won six of their seven previous hard-court encounters (not including one retirement). Due mostly to Del Potro’s extensive wrist-injury problems, these two Grand Slam champions have not met since the 2013 World Tour Finals, an event that saw the Serb prevail 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 during round-robin action.
Del Potro’s 2016 comeback from his latest wrist surgery has been slow but steady. The 27-year-old Argentine is 13-8 for the season and his recent grass-court swing included a semifinal showing in Stuttgart and a third-round performance at Wimbledon. Del Potro got adjusted to the Olympic courts on Saturday, when he teamed up with Maximo Gonzalez to win their first doubles match 6-4, 7-5 over the Australian duo of Chris Guccione and John Peers. Djokovic bounced back from a shocking Wimbledon loss to Sam Querrey by lifting another Masters 1000 trophy at the Rogers Cup. Having settled for bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics before missing out on a medal in London, Djokovic should be more than motivated in Rio. That is bad news for Del Potro, for whom this obviously an extremely bad draw.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
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(3) Rafael Nadal vs. Federico Delbonis
Nadal will be taking the court for the first time since round two of the French Open when he begins his bid for a second career gold medal. The Spaniard kicked off his effort for a 10th title at Roland Garros by destroying Sam Groth and Facundo Bagnis, but he suddenly withdrew because of a wrist problem. Nadal missed Wimbledon and everything else in between the French Open and the Olympics, but he appears to be good to go for Rio. After all, not only is he signed up for singles but he is also competing in the two doubles disciplines (men’s with Marc Lopez and mixed with Garbine Muguruza).
Up first for Nadal on Sunday is a third career meeting with Delbonis. Their two previous encounters resulted in clay-court beatdowns in Nadal’s favor; he cruised 6-3, 6-2 at the 2013 Vina Del Mar event before rolling 6-1, 6-1 last season in Buenos Aires. Delbonis is in the midst of a stellar season that has him at No. 43 in the rankings thanks to a 23-14 ATP-level record. The left-handed Argentine enjoyed a consistently strong buildup to Roland Garros that featured a second career title in Marrakech, but starting in Paris he has lost first-round matches at three consecutive tournaments. Even with Nadal’s rust, that streak will almost certainly extend to four.
Pick: Nadal in 2
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here we go
Bravo
Keep calm, stay focused, remain confident and enjoy the game, Rafa!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CpQ5CAmXEAULdKo.jpg
Vamos Argentina.
Rafa in two and Nole in three
Wonder if Rafa and his team are watching this center court. Dreddy fell and retired and Serena just took a spill. That wrist is very afraid right now.
I have to go with Novak in 2 sets and Rafa in 2 sets.
I hope that the court conditions will be okay for Rafa. I don’t want to see him risking anything with that wrist.
What did Rafa complain about?
MAGIC from Rafa!! THAT fist pump, that knee thrust! You were missed champ!
Break serve and get steady
I just got home and Rafa is playing! He just got another break against Delbonis.
Come on Rafa!
Rafa consolidates the break!
Wow! Blistering DTL forehand winner! That’s the way to do it!
Rafa will be serving for the first set!
vamos!
Can’t see the match just following the live score…the national tv showing football…damn…
Vamos Rafa!
Well I am live streaming. Rafa doing a decent job… not bad for a comeback match
Vr, what is the link you are using? Might as well work for me..
http://www.stream2watch.co/live-now/sport-stream/olympic-games/tennis-olympic-games-rio-2016-live-stream-august-07
As long as you have are using google chrome and have ‘ad block’ on, no issues at all with this one….
Thank you so much! ?
Rafa’s backhand been pretty good
I think Rafa has looked better than expected for his first match back. It is DelbonusDelbonis he’s playing, but the quality of his shot making is there.
Rafa has hit the backhand well in this match. Movement looks quite good. I really like the positive body language from Rafa. He looks focused mentally. I was wondering about any lingering effects with this latest injury, especially regarding confidence.
All in all, a very good start for Rafa!
AGREED! The serve has been good too. He continues to adopt the wider stance on the ad court serve…. ah that backhand DTL was sweet!
Nice DTL backhand winner from Rafa. I notice radius standing at or inside the baseline when hitting his groundstrokes. Good to see!
Rafa standing at or inside the baseline is how it should read in my previous post! I don’t know where autocorrect got “radius”!
Vamos Rafa! ✌
wow, EMPHATIC start from Spain’s hero! Really good! His backhand striking didn’t make it that he was away for months! His court positioning was good, he continues to use the backhand DTL more often and he did not give too much air to his backhand and also didn’t step back to hit backhand (signs of an under-confident Rafa). He was SOLID.
VAMOS CHAMP! Get good practice in the doubles now. Delbonis couldn’t push him but still 6-2 6-1 on a big stage is IMPRESSIVE>
Great to hear! Bravo Rafa!
Vamos! ?
NID
VAMOS!
Rafa seemed very happy in the interview they showed after his match. He did say that he still felt pain in the wrist, but it did not seem to affect his shot making. He was pleased with his game overall.
I am hoping that the pain in the wrist is just from pushing it in real match play. Rafahad such a great start. Brett Haber and Jon Wertheim were full of praise for Rafa’s effort in this match.
Well done, Rafa!
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Thanks for sharing NNY! so he has some pain…I read Toni and his doc’s interviews and they also said he has some pain but it won’t get worse…. I hope the pain vanishes. Good start !
When Delpo had his wrist injury, his doctors told him he could play through the pain but we saw what happened. Doctors aren’t Gods. Anyway, if Olympics is so important to Rafa, then I suppose risking a long lay off from tennis is worth it. However while worry wart Mary is active so is Pippa Mary who sings Rafa of yore is back and all’s right with the world!