Week 31: Olympic tennis - Wimbledon (grass) - mixed doubles

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

RE: Week 31: Olympic tennis - Wimbledon (grass) - mixed doubles

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

They even survive the curse of John Lloyd!

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

The fairytale Olympics half-way to coming true for Andy: first set in the bag by 6-2. smile

RJA · Hall of fame

First set in the bag 6-2

Now listen up you two (especially Laura), you are allowed to win the second set as well.

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

Okay Laura,

That's the semi-final won - well done. You're now playing the first set of the final against the identical twins of the players you've just beaten.

Yours,

Ravenous Bugblatter Beast

RJA · Hall of fame

Well they didn't listen 6-2, 3-6

Match tie break

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Ah well. The fairytale was good while it lasted. hmm

Final: (1) Victoria Azarenka & Max Mirnyi (BLR) defeated (ITF WC) Laura Robson & Andy Murray by 2-6 6-3 [10-8] cry

Still, a silver to add to Andy's gold in the singles ain't bad. smile

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I've only just torn myself away from the tv, wondering why they weren't showing the medal ceremony, but find that the bronze match is only just starting! They will obviously have to wait for that to finish.

I'm absolutely overwhelmed. Gold and Silver for the lad I have followed avidly since junior days!

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

RJA wrote:
To be honest I would ripped your hands off at the start of the day if you offered me a singles win and a doubles defeat.

-- Edited by RJA on Sunday 5th of August 2012 05:55:13 PM

Me too. And what a win! To go from never having beaten Fed in a best of 5 match to absolutely obliterating him! AND he has put that H2H back the right way - 9:8. wink

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

Medal ceremony is on BBC website live now for those interested

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Gutted that they didin't make it - next time

Spectator · All-time great

Very nice work. Mr Murray is a striking doubles player; class shows. Ms Robson played well, too - some gorgeous volleys and her ground strokes and many serves justified her selection. She can come away with both an Olympic silver medal -- an amazing accomplishment -- and an appreciation that she'll be able to improve ... good stuff all around!

Hope she's feeling OK, though. In her post-match interview, she was very upbeat and diplomatic. But Mr Murray was clearly struggling to get over his disappointment (when you're 18 and just starting "just being in the final" is fine ... when you're Mr Murray, it's a slightly different story) and the question to him about her playing was not a wisely phrased one. Asking someone that honest to say his partner's played "so well" when she dropped serve in the 2nd set and double faulted twice in the match tiebreak is a risk. He was very complimentary and fair and accurate in his assessment (and diplomatically simply elided her less good moments), but the disappointment was palpable and the implications of saying she played well at point A and point B were clear. That's much kinder than he normally is when evaluating his own performances after a loss, but it looked as if it might be hurting.

I'm sure she'll be fine; having a silver medal to look at every day will be quite a restorative! And she certainly has nothing to be ashamed of: she's a worthy partner, and he wouldn't have been there without her. She held her own against the best, and has, God willing, a terrific future ahead of her. And, just out of interest, is she the first ITF place contestant to win a medal, does anyone know?

-- Edited by Spectator on Monday 6th of August 2012 07:00:10 AM

Spectator · All-time great

Bless him, I don't think there exists a match he doesn't care about (it's one of the things that makes him great) ... and clearly an opportunity for a second gold was going to matter. I'm sure that he wanted to win it for both of them ... for his supporters ... for Team GB ... for the country.

My sole point is that he has never yet answered a question about his own performance with anything other than pretty astounding honesty and analytic rigour. So I wouldn't have asked him, in a match where his partner had at times been the weaker player (though at other times very strong indeed!), to have commented on her play. If he showed the same honesty about her play as he generally does about his own, it was bound to be awkward. He was very careful to name all the positives and not name any negatives! But still tough on them both.

But enough of that ... not worth making mountains out of molehills ... he was terrific, she was terrific, and I am sure they are both pretty ecstatic bunnies today.

-- Edited by Spectator on Monday 6th of August 2012 09:05:05 AM

Spectator · All-time great

If the BBC takes anything away from this Olympics, rethinking its interview strategy should be it! With losing players, I think it should definitely be up to them whether they want to be interviewed or not. If they have something they want to say (eg if they have received good crowd support and would like to thank), then they can voluntarily participate. And if they want just to be quiet while they compose themselves, they can choose that too. But sticking microphones into people's faces at incredibly sensitive points in their lives is really not a good idea.

(NB: The one really good interview I've seen is John Inverdale with the two silver medal rowers ... precisely because he was aware that it was a ridiculous situation, and he handled it empathetically and kindly. One of the worst was the interviewer trying to get the gymnastics team to say they were disappointed with their bronze when they were clearly chuffed to bits. And I thought Federer's losing interview [which did take place after he'd had time to compose himself] was actually really good -- very honest and classy)

-- Edited by Spectator on Monday 6th of August 2012 11:17:14 AM

RJA · Hall of fame

Spectator wrote:
But Mr Murray was clearly struggling to get over his disappointment

I think it says a lot about Andy that he was so disappointed at losing this match after having won a match that was frankly about 100 times as important. He is obviously quite fond of Laura and probably wanted to win this for her as much as himself.