Tired Nadal downsizes his golden aspirations
Rafael Nadal gave up his ambitious dream of an Olympic golden treble on Thursday after spending an exhausting four hours on court to reach the singles quarterfinals and the doubles final.
The 30-year-old Spaniard was set to partner with French Open champion Garbine Muguruza in the mixed but withdrew just moments before they were to face Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek in the first round.
The effort of downing Gilles Simon in the singles followed just a couple of hours later by teaming with lifelong friend Marc Lopez to beat Canada’s Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pos- pisil to make the doubles final proved too much.
Nadal, playing for the first time in two and a half months after a wrist injury forced him out of the French Open, started Thursday staring at a grueling 10-match schedule in just four days if he was to win three golds.
But having already spent eight hours on court this week, followed by four more on Thursday, the 14-time major winner ran out of gas.
His journey only got more difficult when Wednesday’s schedule was wiped out by bad weather.
Nadal had hinted that he was unlikely to fulfill his mixed doubles commitments just after seeing off Nestor and Pospisil 7-6 (1), 7-6 (4) to set up Friday’s gold medal clash against Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau of Romania.
When asked if it was possible to win three golds, he replied: “No, no, that’s impossible.”
He added: “My only priority is that I have a silver medal for sure.
“I’m also in the quarterfinals in singles, which is very important, but I came here not expecting anything, having practiced almost zero for the last two months.”
Nadal, the 2008 Olympic singles champion, defeated French 15 th seed Simon 7-6 (5), 6-3 and on Friday faces Brazilian No 1 Thomaz Bellucci who beat Belgian eighth seed David Goffin 7-6 (10), 6-4.
Andy Murray, the second seed and bidding to be the first player to defend an Olympic singles title, came back from 3-0 down in the deciding set to defeat Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 and will next face 12th seeded Steve Johnson of the United States.
(top) and Marc Lopez celebrate winning their doubles semifinal match against Canada on Thursday.
Punching people in the face can wait. Right now, American judo star Kayla Harrison plans to devote her life to helping victims of sexual abuse as she heads into retirement.
The 26-year-old retained her Olympic crown on Thursday by beating French opponent Audrey Tcheumeo in the under-78kg final, winning by submission with an armlock.
Harrison later confirmed she had received offers from the lucrative world of mixed martial arts, where her friend and former sparring partner Ronda Rousey has become a multimillionaire and one of the most famous athletes in America.
For now though, Harrison plans to take her time, preferring instead to spend her life helping victims of sexual abuse through her Fearless Foundation.
“This is my legacy; I retire as a two-time Olympic champion, one of the greatest the sport has ever seen,” said Harrison, who established her foundation following her first Olympic success in London four years ago.
“It’s no secret that I was sexually abused by my first coach, and after the London Games I decided to set up a foundation to help survivors of sexual abuse through education, through a lot of different ways,” said Harrison.
“There’s a lot of stuff going on and it’s just now in its infancy. Being a two-time Olympic champion is an amazing thing but the Fearless Foundation isn’t about me — it’s about helping people.”
Harrison did not completely rule out following Rousey’s path into mixed martial arts and the Ultimate Fight Championship cage.
“I would never say never about joining MMA, but right now I’m just going to focus on being a two-time Olympic champion and living in the moment,” she said.
“I’ ll decide about punching people in the face at a later date.”
Rousey earned more than a million dollars in her first six UFC bouts, and Harrison revealed she had already been approached about switching to the octagon.