Tennis En Pointe

Well, Juan Martin del Potro beat Mardy Fish. Whoop-di-doo. Andy Roddick will probably beat Denis Gremelmayr. And there is my LA roundup.

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But the Olympic tennis starts today, which ensures I'll have some interesting stuff to talk about from here on in! I couldn't tell you exactly who's playing today, as I'm having some issues finding an order of play, but I know Federer and Tursunov are first off the rank - and I think Nadal might be playing first in the doubles. Actually, I think Roger has to play twice today - the Olympic debut of the 'Fedrinka' team is later on this evening. And don't we just know how those will work out. I'd be very happy with a singles gold, but I'd love to see him do a Massu and pull double gold out of the bag!

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Speaking of gold, in a vaguely related segue, I was looking around on the Olympic site trying to find an order of play, and I came across this summary for tennis:

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'Today's Olympic tennis players include some of the highest-profile athletes in the world. Accustomed to five-star hotels and high-stakes prize money, at the Olympic Games they will bunk in the Olympic Village and compete for nothing but a gold medal.'

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I think that's awesome. Really, really awesome. Federer has come out and said that a gold medal would mean as much to him as a Wimbledon victory - and when you consider that that's without a pay cheque, that's something else. I mean, it's not like Roger needs the money, but it's great that the gold medal is the prize, and nothing more - and it's still considered such a prize.

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That's the power of the Olympics, I guess. If I were to call up the top sixty four players and say, 'hey guys, come play in my awesome Tournament de Jodi, where I will pay you nothing but you will get my undying love and admiration' I have a feeling that I wouldn't get a lot of takers. But if it were the OLYMPIC Tournament de Jodi...

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...but then, I suppose I don't have a state of art tennis facility at my command. Or a gold medal. If you got desperate for cash, I suppose you could always pawn it.

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(That was a joke.)

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Apparently, according to the Beijing website, the first ever gold medallist in tennis was an Irish guy called John Boland, who originally went as a spectator. That was in Athens in 1896. Somehow, I can't see a spectator jumping in and winning gold now, but it's still a fun story. I wish it elaborated on exactly how he went from spectator to Olympic athlete to winner. That could totally be an awesome movie.

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Oh, I found a reference! So he was a student of mythology and went for kicks because of that, but his buddy Thrasyvoloas Manaos, who was the secretary on the organisational committee, randomly entered him into the tennis. One can imagine Boland probably said something along the lines of, 'WTF, mate?' but he went ahead and played - and obviously won! - despite wearing leather-soled shoes with heels.

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Leather-soled shoes. Can you imagine any player - maybe even Federer - coming out in leather clogs and still winning? Go Boland! He later went on to be an MP and championed the Irish language. He sounds really cool. I reiterate my 'there should be a movie' sentiment.

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Hey, maybe I should write it! Tennis From The Backseat could totally transition to the screen!

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Today's Results

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Countrywide Classic (Los Angeles)

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Juan Martin del Potro def. Mardy Fish, 6-2 6-1

Andy Roddick def. Denis Gremelmayr, 6-2 6-2