1 Response to beijing08switzerland_sweden

1. Voo de Mar says:

   September 29, 2024 at 1:59 pm

   Points won by each set: | 31-22, 33-31, 44-48, 29-22 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   37 % Swiss – 52 of 140
   26 % Swedes – 32 of 120

   As opposed to the 2004 final at the Olympics, the 2008 final was entirely played in a classical serve-and-voley style. In hindsight it’s a unique Olympic Gold Medal match in doubles, because featuring four Grand Slam champions, albeit Wawrinka needed to wait six years following that Asian success to win his maiden Slam title. Even though Aspelin was a typical doubles player, US Open ’07 champion, the Swedish appearance in the final was absolutely unexpected because Johansson had been playing doubles rarely, losing more often than winning, and the year 2008 meant his last full season. The Swedes shocked in the semifinal, eliminating a strong French pair Clement/Llodra 7-6(6), 4-6, 19-17 in a match that lasted 4 hours 46 minutes (third set 2:55h) which is an Olympic doubles record in terms of duration and games (59)! The Swedish pair saved a triple set point in the tie-break; in the decider they lost a service game at 3:3, but broke back immediately – the same story at 15:15 (the Frenchmen were two points away from victory serving at 16:15).
   Federer, the best player of the 2000s, was the main favorite to win the Gold medal in singles two consecutive Olympics (Athens ’04 and Beijing ’08), but he didn’t even go through to the semifinals. In Beijing he had a better partner (Allegro in Athens) so after being eliminated in singles, he put all his skills on the line in doubles, and proved that he’d excel in it if he chose to… Wawrinka and Johansson weren’t broken in the final.

   [SUI] Federer/Wawrinka’s route to the Gold medal:
   1 Simone Bolelli/Andreas Seppi [ITA] 7-5, 6-1
   2 Dmitry Tursunov/Mikhail Youzhny [RUS] 6-4, 6-3
   Q Mahesh Bhupathi/Leander Paes [IND] 6-2, 6-4
   S Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan [USA] 7-6(6), 6-4
   W Simon Aspelin/Thomas Johansson [SWE] 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3

   * The last Olympic final in doubles played ‘the best of five’

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