Tennis

After checking, this is indeed a pretty rare occurrence. At the Australian Open and the US Open, it happened for the last time in 2006 when Federer won (and the Big Four was not really a thing). At Wimbledon, it happened for Federer in 2009 (just after he won the French in the same fashion!), But the most recent winner in the "no Big Four guy faced" category is Nadal at the french in 2010!

We get to see why these guys have almost a monopoly on big titles! Even when three of them are slacking, the fourth is often there to hold the fort.


It could be amusing to calculate the Big Four Factor of titles, as in the number of Big Four members one had to beat to get the title. I guess there are many two's but there must be some three's here and there. I doubt there is a four as it requires a perfect storm of seed placements and upsets for it to happen. Maybe Nalbandian pulled one? Or Davydenko when he won the Masters' Cup (EDIT: That's a 2, he did not face Murray and lost to Djokovic in group phase)?

No Federer until the end of the year

Now that we have a new website, can someone tell Szlia that Murray is a Scot, not a Scott. That's been bugging me for years

This is noted and might come in handy (pun!) as Murray IS at the Olympics (unlike Wawrinka - back issues).

Szlia said:

This is noted and might come in handy (pun!) as Murray IS at the Olympics (unlike Wawrinka - back issues).

Click to expand...

I just realized there will be no Federer at the Olympics so he'll never get Single's Olympic Gold. Wow..

Honestly, he had 4 decent shots at winning the Olympic Gold and did not, so I doubt this 5th shot would have done the trick

In 2000 in Sydney on hard court, ranked 36, he reached the semi and lost to the lower ranked Haas (a god among men though). He managed to also lose the bronze medal match against Di Pasquale, a french journeyman, but, if I remember correctly, he said he was not as mentally implicated in the match as he should have been, overwhelmed by the disappointment of losing in the semi final and not realizing that a bronze medal is worth fighting for. That said, he would have faced Kafelnikov in the final and he had never beaten him at that point.

In 2004 in Athens on hard court, ranked N°1, he lost to this unknown 18 year old called Berdych who had a hard time winning match above challenger level... In the end, unheralded chilean Massu won the final against american Fish...

In 2008 in Beijing on hard court, ranked N°1, he lost in the quarter final against Blake. Nadal won the gold beating Gonzalez (who beat Blake in a controversial match).

In 2012 in London on grass, ranked N°1, he reached the final on the back of a marathon against Del Potro to face an inspired Murray who beat Djokovic in his semi.


As far as career achievements go, it's certain that having an olympic gold medal in single is nice, especially in a GOAT conversation, but tennis is not like many other sports where the most prestigious competition is the Olympics. Still, we can be sure that Federer will not be rooting for Djokovic in the next couple weeks.

Well... high five all around at the Federer estate: Del Potro beat Djokovic 7-6 7-6 in the first round of the Olympic tournament, landing 30 forehand winners in the process and, I believe, without facing a break point.

The french pair Mladenovic-Garcia also lost in the first round of the women's double, so that draw is pretty open. The men's double also saw some massive seedicide with the Murray brothers losing as well as Herbert-Mahut. Honestly, with very few people monopolizing titles, it's pretty cool that the Olympic golds might, *might*, go to some outsiders.

Things sound pretty good for Murray in men's single though and for Williams in women's single.

Djokovic-Zimonjic got kicked by the experienced brazlians Melo-Soares out of the men's double, so no medal for Djokovic this time around (he got the bronze in 2008).

Good luck guessing who will win that event though, look at these quarter-finals:

JOHNSON-SOCK vs BAUTISTA-FERRER (8) Sock has some success in double (with canadian Pospisil), but it's a bit terra incognita for the others. That said, a pair of good single players that play in double from the baseline can be very dangerous.

MELO-SOARES (3) vs MERGEA-TECAU (5) Four specialists.

LOPEZ-NADAL (6) vs MARACH-PEYA This Lopez is Marc Lopez, Nadal's usual double partner (who is not that great but they had some good results together) and the austrians are specialists.

NESTOR-POSPISIL (7) vs FOGNINI-SEPPI A veteran specialist in Nestor teamed with a very successful double player in Pospisil (usually paired with Sock - pun!) vs two good single players, with Fognini having some success in double, but usually with Bolelli.


Smart money is possibly on Melo-Soares... they are after all the top remaining seed and at home.

Women's single officially turned into a free for all: Svitolina managed a high quality performance with good court coverage and a good balance maintained from start to finish between aggressiveness and regularity, Williams' erratic play could not withstand it and so the World N°1 got ousted in straight sets. Check these quarter finals:

SVITOLINA (15) vs KVITOVA (11) Kvitova is one of the two remaining player with Kerber to have some experience at very high level.

PUIG vs SIEGMUND I don't watch a lot of WTA, but in quarter final we get two players I hardly ever saw play.

KEYS (7) vs KASATKINA The young russian is a very interesting player. What she lacks in power she compensates with variations and very nice court craft. It could derail the Keys train.

KONTA (10) vs KERBER (2) Konta is in constant progression since a very good grass court season a year or two ago, but Kerber is with Kvitova the only one who knows what the late stages of a big tournament feels like.

Nadal in a bit of trouble against brazilian Bellucci as he lost the first set 6-2 in front of a very boisterous crowd that does not hesitate to copiously boo the spaniard if he celebrates one of his good shot too loudly!

As a reminder Bellucci is a lefty with a big forhand with a lot of spin, so basically a lesser Nadal, but the guy is playing above his level, pushed by the home crowd.

Meh. Bellucci broke back in the 2nd set when Nadal was serving for it, but then could not hold. He then had the first opportunities in the decider, but could not convert, as he could not convert those he got once he got behind. Nadal through (and he will play the double's final too!).

There is a romanian tennis player who will not sleep so well for a while: Mergea. In the men's double final, when his buddy Tecau was serving to bring the score to 5-5 in the decider, he put a relatively easy smash in the net a deuce and then, on match point, he put another relatively easy smash 3 meters long, gifting Nadal and Lopez (Marc) a gold medal. He missed a couple easy smashes earlier in the match though, so it was probably in the back of his head.

Apparently, you can pair a player who can't serve with a player who can't volley and reach the final of women's double! Well... you can also say it's a pairing of the best net player in the world with one of the best baseline player in the world... Anyway, Bacsinszky and Hingis reached the final after trailing by a set and two breaks and saving 2 match points in the 2nd set! They will face Vesnina and Makarova in the final.

Hell of a match going on right now between Nadal and Del Potro.

Wow!!!! Del Potro!!!!

It was a bit of a pant crapping contest near the end, as between 4-4 and 6-5 there was a streak of 9 points against serve or something similar. If Del Potro wins the Gold, he will have beaten Djokovic, Nadal and Murray (who made light work of Nishikori earlier in the day - the Japanese possibly dulled by his oudini act against Monfils). He should get Platinum for that!