MADRID, 19 (EUROPA PRESS)
The Spanish Olympic tennis team will be led by Garbiñe Muguruza and Pablo Carreño in the Tokyo 2020 Games in search of the medals, with the great absence of Rafa Nadal, who takes more and more care of his calendar and renounced the assault of a third gold.
At 35, Nadal is clear about the need to “listen” to his body to try to have the longest possible career. With this objective, on June 17, the Spaniard announced that he would not be in Tokyo, just as he also resigned from Wimbledon. A couple of days earlier, Roberto Bautista had also dropped out of the Games, claiming an intense season and schedule.
The one from Manacor is the best Spanish tennis player in history also due to his Olympic record, since he has the individual gold of Beijing 2008 and the doubles gold with Marc López in Rio 2016, which was his Olympic return as a standard-bearer after missing London for injury.
Without the 20 ‘Grand Slams’ champion, Spain loses its best medal option but maintains a competitive team, which will be made up of Garbiñe Muguruza, Carla Suárez, Sara Sorribes and Paula Badosa in women’s singles and Pablo Carreño, Alejandro Davidovich, Pablo Andújar and Roberto Carballés, in men’s individual.
In addition, the couples registered for the doubles events, under the technical criteria of Anabel Medina and Sergi Bruguera, captains of the Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup, are: Garbiñe Muguruza-Carla Suárez, Sara Sorribes-Paula Badosa, Pablo Carreño- Alejandro Davidovich and Pablo Andújar-Roberto Carballés.
MUGURUZA HAS THE TENNIS AND THE GALLONS
As a double ‘Grand Slam’ champion, Muguruza, a faithful devotee of the Olympic spirit, faces her second Games after falling in the quarterfinals in 2016. The Spanish-Venezuelan is one of the greatest talents on the WTA circuit, always motivated in the great stages, although this 2021, again irregular.
‘Garbi’ began the year promising, with the title in Dubai, the first in two years, and the Yarra Classic Valley and Doha finals, in addition to shining at the Australian Open where she lacked the courage to knock down the subsequent champion in the second round Naomi Osaka. Injuries made him lose that good rhythm and regained confidence, to stumble on the tour on gravel and on grass also failed to explode despite two good games at Wimbledon.
With the doubts of the latest results but with the plus of an event such as the Games, Muguruza leads the Spanish trick of achieving a medal that in female individual does not fall from Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in Atalanta 1996. Carla Suárez will also fight for her, in her farewell tour of the slopes and after overcoming cancer.
The one from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria announced in April that it had overcome Hodgkin’s lymphoma and, after the setback caused by the covid which was already announced as the last season, it says goodbye this 2021 with the option of playing the big dates.
Meanwhile, for Badosa and Sorribes their Olympic premiere comes at the best moment. The Girona woman is shining and goes to Tokyo after showing that she can beat anyone. Champion of her first tournament, that of Belgrade, in a very regular campaign, she also achieved fourth at Roland Garros and eighth at Wimbledon. The Castellón, meanwhile, has also taken a step forward, won her first WTA title this year, that of Guadalajara, and is leaving epic battles almost every week.
DJOKOVIC, THE COCONUT IN THE MEN’S PICTURE
In the men’s tournament, it is difficult for Spain not to miss Nadal or Bautista. Carreño starts with the best ranking in the Navy and also as a recent champion in the land of Hamburg. The Asturian is confident of playing a good role and getting his best game, regardless of the change from surface to hard, in which he became a double semifinalist of the United States Open in 2017 and 2020, in a section of the season that usually pays off. overlooking the North American tour.
In addition, Andújar also puts experience at the service of the Spanish team, although at 35 he is for the first time an Olympian. The Cuenca lives a second youth this 2021, capable of winning Roger Federer or Dominic Thiem, with which he can allow himself to dream. The self-confidence and aggressive play will be put by a Davidovich on the rise and Carballés.
The Malaga native absorbed the previous days from Nadal himself, training at his Academy and surely receiving some good advice from the double Olympic champion. The Tenerife, with semifinals in Bastad (Sweden) the week before Tokyo, will try to surprise in the attempt that Spain does not miss its great reference and add some more medals to an Olympic record with 12 metals (2 golds , 7 silver and 3 bronze).
Despite the various casualties, there is one who does not fail and who seems to already have the gold hanging on his chest. Novak Djokovic will look for the great trophy that he lacks in a year besides that he can win the so-called ‘Golden Slam’, the Olympic gold and the four ‘big’. The Belgrade, recent Wimbledon champion, also won in Australia and Roland Garros and after Tokyo the goal will be the US Open.
Although there will be neither Nadal nor Roger Federer, the men’s team will have a level with Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas or Alexander Zverev. On the other hand, Andy Murray goes to Tokyo in his desire not to give up, despite the turbulence of his physical recovery in recent years, since that 2016 of glory in which, among other things, he hung his second Olympic gold in a row.
FILE.
– VENUE: Ariake Tennis Center.
–DATES: From July 24 to August 1.
– SPANISH PARTICIPATION: Garbiñe Muguruza, Carla Suárez, Sara Sorribes, Paula Badosa, Pablo Carreño, Alejandro Davidovich, Pablo Andújar and Roberto Carballés.
