After three days of play in the tennis competition at the 2008 Olympic tennis competition, it is the French men and the Russian women who leading in the team competition in Beijing. Both nations are seeking their nation’s first gold medal in the team competition in tennis….eerrr….uh…wait…a minute. Team competition? Is there one?
In my column posted last week (click HERE to read), I suggested that a team competition at the Olympics consist of each singles and doubles victory earning one point for a nation in a “team competition” and the nation with the most points at the end of the competition, be awarded team gold, silver and bronze. If this was indeed the case at the Games (there is only individual medals at stake in men’s and women’s singles and doubles), then after two rounds of singles and one round of doubles play, the men’s standings would be as follows
MEN
France – 8 points
Russia – 6 points
Switzerland – 4 points
Argentina – 4 points
Spain – 4 points
Czech Republic – 3 points
USA – 3 points
Germany – 3 points
Chile – 3 points
Belgium – 3 points
Serbia – 3 points
Austria – 3 points
France is paced by its depth as three players – Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, Paul Henri Mathieu – all reaching the round of 16, and Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra reaching the round of 16 in doubles. Russia has two players in the round of 16 of singles – Michael Youzhny and Igor Andreev – and two doubles teams – Nikolay Davydenko and Andreev and Youzhny and Dmitry Tursunov into the round of 16 of doubles. Switzerland is, of course, paced by Roger Federer, who is the round of 16 of both singles and doubles (with Stan Wawrinka). David Nalbandian is the only Argentine still remaining in the men’s field as he is into the round of 16 of singles. For men’s singles and doubles draws at the Games, click here.
In women’s play, the team point standings would be as follows;
WOMEN
Russia – 8 points
China – 6 points
USA – 6 points
Belarus – 4 points
Ukraine – 3 points
Czech Republic – 3 points
Italy – 3 points
France – 3 points
Slovakia – 3 points
Russia has three women remaining in women’s singles – Dinara Safina (the U.S. Open Series women’s winner), Vera Zvonareva (who replaced the injured Maria Sharapova in the Olympic field) and 2000 Olympic silver medalist Elena Dementieva, who are all into the round of 16. In doubles, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Safina, the No. 1 seeded team, are into the round of 16 as are Zvonareva and Elena Vesnina. The Chinese women have Jie Zheng, the Wimbledon semifinalist earlier this year, and Li Na, the first-round conqueror of No. 3 seed Kuznetsova, into the round of 16 of singles, while Zheng and Zi Yan are into the round of 16 of doubles. The United States is, of course, paced by the Williams sisters – Venus and Serena – who are into the round of 16 of singles – and vying for all-sister Olympic gold medal match – and through to the round of 16 of doubles. Lindsay Davenport and Liezel Huber are through to the round of 16 of doubles as well for the Americans. For men’s singles and doubles draws at the Games, click here.
Let’s keep close tabs on how the rest of the tournament shapes up as far as our “mythic” team competition goes.
