ATP World Tour Finals

Some pictures from the match between Tipsarevic (who subbed in for Andy Murray) and Berdych, that I saw in London with my friend Emily.  Tipsy was our fave and had a match point, but missed, double faulted, and fell over in the third set tie-break to lose the match :(

In the fan zone players lockers were auctioned off for charity- fed got the most at nearly £20,000, then Nadal at about £17,000, then Djok and Murray.  
The other guys struggled to get £3,000, and most of the winning bids came from Japan weirdly.

 

A Short History of Tennis at the Olympics- part the second

Right where was I?...

Ah yes...Tennis had returned in 1968 as a demonstration sport, it was then excluded again until 1984 in LA where once again it was only a demonstration sport.  In 1988 in Soeul, it was a medal winning sport again for the first time since 1924.  Brad Gilbert who would later work for the LTA as Andy Murray's coach won bronze in the men's singles, and Steffi Graff who won  all the grand slams in 1988 also won the Olympic gold.  She finished her career having won 22 grand slams.

The tournament was played on clay in 1992 in Barcelona where Steffi Graff was beaten by Jennifer Capriati.  In 1996, Agassi and Davenport both won golds in the singles but Neil Broad and Tim Henman won silver in the men's doubles. This Olympics was in Atlanta and was the first time a single bronze medal was given in all events.  Instead of giving two bronzes to the players who lose the semi-finals they now had to play for it.  The Williams sisters made their first appearance in 2000, in Syndey when they won the Women's doubles, and Venus won the Women's gold medal in the singles.