Stars join gold rush at
Friday, 25 July 2008
HONG KONG, July 24 (AFP):The Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. And this year, a fifth Grand Slam: the Beijing Olympics.
With the sport's biggest names lining up for a shot at gold, the Olympic tennis tournament provides a welcome shake-up to the usual order of service.
"The Olympics comes around only once every four years, and the US Open is there every single year," said Russian glamour queen Maria Sharapova.
"It has been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl."
The sense of excitement is refreshing from the highly paid, well-travelled tennis elite, some of whom will carry their nations' flags at the glittering opening ceremony.
"An Olympic gold would be something very special," admitted top-ranked Roger Federer, who has placed Beijing at the top of his list this year.
Lindsay Davenport, winner in 1996, said the Atlanta opening bash was a moment of "pure joy."
"We were all crying when Muhammad Ali lit the torch," she said.
But euphoria will soon give way to brutal competition at the Olympic Green Tennis Centre, with the mercury expected to top 30 deg C (85 deg F) in muggy and polluted air.
Federer will be the marginal favourite to claim arguably the season's biggest prize after finishing fourth at Sydney 2000 and flopping out in round two in Athens.
But his worst season since 2004 is ill-timed for the Swiss, with a shock first round loss in Tornoto this week compounding his woes.
World number two Rafael Nadal underlined his dominance on clay at the French Open and them on grass at Wimbledon but is vulnerable on hard courts, winning just one title on the surface last year out of six in total.
Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic heads the list of challengers including Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Murray and emerging French stars Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils.
With the sport's biggest names lining up for a shot at gold, the Olympic tennis tournament provides a welcome shake-up to the usual order of service.
"The Olympics comes around only once every four years, and the US Open is there every single year," said Russian glamour queen Maria Sharapova.
"It has been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl."
The sense of excitement is refreshing from the highly paid, well-travelled tennis elite, some of whom will carry their nations' flags at the glittering opening ceremony.
"An Olympic gold would be something very special," admitted top-ranked Roger Federer, who has placed Beijing at the top of his list this year.
Lindsay Davenport, winner in 1996, said the Atlanta opening bash was a moment of "pure joy."
"We were all crying when Muhammad Ali lit the torch," she said.
But euphoria will soon give way to brutal competition at the Olympic Green Tennis Centre, with the mercury expected to top 30 deg C (85 deg F) in muggy and polluted air.
Federer will be the marginal favourite to claim arguably the season's biggest prize after finishing fourth at Sydney 2000 and flopping out in round two in Athens.
But his worst season since 2004 is ill-timed for the Swiss, with a shock first round loss in Tornoto this week compounding his woes.
World number two Rafael Nadal underlined his dominance on clay at the French Open and them on grass at Wimbledon but is vulnerable on hard courts, winning just one title on the surface last year out of six in total.
Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic heads the list of challengers including Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Murray and emerging French stars Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils.