August 05, 2012

The refs in the Honduras-Brazil and GB-South Korea soccer matches seemed just a little card happy. Is there a different standard in the Olympics for yellows?

posted by billsaysthis at 10:26 AM on August 05, 2012

Andy Murray beat Roger Federer...

Actually, Murray beat Federer like a red-haired step child. Federer is way too good a competitor to do anything like this, but it almost appeared he was deliberately handing Murray the medal. Murray was playing well, but from what I saw of the match (came home from church in time to see the last 3 games of set #1 and then the rest of the match), Federer would make 3 bad shots for every 2 good ones by Murray. there were a few times when Federer looked to be putting things together, but Murray proved up to the challenge each time. I was really disappointed in Federer's effort, but quite encouraged by Murray's.

posted by Howard_T at 02:10 PM on August 05, 2012

Considering the Olympic gold medal is the only item missing from Federer's magnificent career (and Nadal has one), I doubt that "not trying" was on the menu today.

posted by grum@work at 09:54 PM on August 05, 2012

I think it fits more with the idea of Federer's career being in its long autumn.

The Olympic tennis tournament is, structurally, much more like a week-long ATP event than a grand slam. (Murray's still booked in for the Rogers Cup in Toronto next week.) Federer is much more selective now in his schedule, only booked in to play one tournament out of the three before the US Open, and sometimes his game just isn't there.

posted by etagloh at 10:55 PM on August 05, 2012

Actually, Murray beat Federer like a red-haired step child.

Federer is much more selective now in his schedule, only booked in to play one tournament out of the three before the US Open, and sometimes his game just isn't there.

That's the opposite of last year, when he was playing WAY more tournaments than Nadal and Djokovic after the US Open. He was trying to rack up as many points as he could to try and get back his #1 ranking (which obviously worked).

posted by grum@work at 11:10 PM on August 05, 2012

Now that I look at the actual ATP stats, Federer's played the same number of tournaments as Murray, and around the same as Nadal and Djokovic. Damn you, statistics. Anyway, he said after today's match that he felt like he'd won a silver medal, not lost a gold medal, given the struggle he had in the first round, and the 19-17 final set against Del Potro.

Someone should remind the commentators on the women's vault finals that Maroney actually has to perform prior to being presented the gold medal.

The BBC team were ready to serve it up on a plate too, though perhaps not as lavishly; I don't think it's unfair to say, like Deadspin's very good gymnastics writer, that all signs pointed to a coronation.

I also heard that the NBC primetime package took pains to show the other countries' gymnasts who landed on their rears, which seems like foreshadowing to me.

posted by etagloh at 11:51 PM on August 05, 2012