Early talk this week was that the Tokyo hard courts were extremely slow, which could play into the hands of some of the players who might be thought of more as clay courters. Additionally, some tough early match-ups -- 1r Barty/Sorribes Tormo, 1r Muguruza/Kudermetova, 2r Swiatek/Badosa -- could throw the entire draw into disarray. Meanwhile, Osaka returns and will immediately feel more pressure to win than she's *ever* felt in *any* tournament she's ever played. We'll see how that works out.
*WOMEN's SINGLES*
GOLD: #6 Iga Swiatek, POL
SILVER: #3 Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
BRONZE: #8 Barbora Krejcikova, CZE
4th Place: Ons Jabeur, TUN
...thinking Barty's road is super tough -- Sorribes 1st Rd., Pavlyuchenkova 3rd -- so I went with the seemingly better odds with Krejcikova winning the section. So Barty will probably take Gold. Hmmm, might Jabeur (or maybe Sorribes) be the Puig of these Games? *WOMEN's DOUBLES*
GOLD: Krejcikova/Siniakova, CZE
SILVER: Mattek-Sands/Pegula, USA
BRONZE: V.Kudermetova/Vesnina, ROC
4th Place: Ostapenko/Sevastova, LAT
...Japan's #2-seeded Aoyama/Shibahara have had more regular season success than any duo, but won't have the home court advantage they might have with fans in the stands. Muguruza/Suarez-Navarro (open vs. Mertens/Van Uytvanck, could have Aoyama/Shibahara 2r) would be a lovely Cinderella story. *MIXED DOUBLES*
...the draw will come later, and the teams (ala V.Williams/Ram in '16) could change based on the singles results and/or injuries/COVID. Some contenders: Sakkari/Tsitsipas - the Greeks did well in Hopman Cup a few years ago
Vesnina/Karatsev - RG MX finalists
Schuurs/Koolhof - reached RG semis
Stosur - w/ someone (Peers?), as she won the AO MX final w/ Ebden (not in Tokyo) in Feb.
Watson/A.Murray - reached QF in London in '12; or maybe w/ Jamie?
Mattek-Sands - maybe w/ Rajeev Ram?
Swiatek - Hurkacz or Kubot
Osaka/Nishikori - seems natural that they'll *try*
Mladenovic - she's playing WD w/ Garcia, could go w/ Hubert or Mahut in MX
*MEN's SINGLES*
GOLD: #1 Novak Djokovic, SRB
SILVER: #3 Stefanos Tsitsipas, GRE
BRONZE: #7 Hubert Hurkacz, POL
4th Place: #2 Daniil Medvedev, ROC
...Djokovic, looking for Part IV of V in a possible Golden Slam season, doesn't have del Potro to contend with -- after back-to-back Olympic losses to the Argentine in '12 and '16 -- this time around. Andy Murray is playing for a third straight Gold, and opens with #9-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Petra Kvitova, together with Tomas Satoransky, will be the flag bearer of Czech Republic at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games
— Diego Barbiani (@Diego_Barbiani) July 22, 2021
-- from the Czech Olympic Team IG account pic.twitter.com/7gygR1m46q
#Tokyo2020 #TeamUkraine ???? pic.twitter.com/icIjRV9WGl
— Elina Monfils (@ElinaSvitolina) July 22, 2021
French tennis ladies have arrived in Tokyo! I'm very glad for your coming even under this difficult situation?? I hope a great result will come to Team France???? Please be careful for the tough hotness and humidity???? #tokyo2020 @alizecornet @CaroGarcia @KikiMladenovic @fioferro pic.twitter.com/aXe5ebwgsM
— Team Alize Cornet (@teamalizecornet) July 20, 2021
Tenía muchas ganas de sacarme esta foto ??
— Nadia Podoroska (@nadiapodoroska) July 21, 2021
Sos increíble #Tokyo2020
??????
I really wanted to take this photo ??
You’re amazing @Tokyo2020 #equipoARG #OwnTheMoment pic.twitter.com/PXfxYSjAzQ
Here's the 2038 Japanese version of Federer and Djokovic. pic.twitter.com/lLVStX78IT
— NOVAK FAN CANADA???????? -Danielovic- (@NovakCanada) July 21, 2021
