Posts mit dem Label Manuela Maleeva werden angezeigt. Alle Posts anzeigen
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Samstag, 2. August 2008

Step back in time: Olympics 1992 Women's Singles


The second olympic tennis tournament took place in 1992 in Barcelona on red clay. The top seed was defending champion Steffi Graf, who was then world No. 2 (behind Seles, who didn't play) and just crowned Wimbledon-Champion.
The draw was much more packed than in 1988, with many great names.
Sanchez-Vicario was second seed and home-favorite. She reached the semis, but fell under the pressure of winning gold in her home-town.
American Jennifer Capriati was seeded 3 though being without a title in 1992 so far. She ended up playing brilliantly and winning the gold medal in the championship-match against Graf. At that time, it was a big upset, but Capriati proved to be in-form just on-time. She made the semis without dropping a set and only went the distance against Sanchez-Vicario and Graf.
Follow Cap's match point again at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F9lX5-vCjI

American Mary Joe Fernandez was seeded 4th and was a solid performer so far that season, including a run to the Australian Open final. However, she didn't manage to win many titles but somehow was always there. She did what she had to do in reaching the semis (though being almost out second round against Hy-Boulais (CAN) and fell short again to Graf in straight sets.
Sanchez-Vicario and Fernandez both received the bronze medals, play-offs for that medal only started in 1996.
5th seed and home favorite Conchita Martinez had bad luck with the draw, being in the Sanchez-Vicario quarter and these two met in the quarters with Sanchez-Vicario holding the upper hand.
6th seed Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere (playing for Switzerland for the first time) already had a bronze medal to her name. Her carreer was almost over and her younger sisters Katerina (already a long-time top 10er) and Magdalena were on the rise and both participated. She fell short to Mary-Joe in the quarters, though winning the opener 7:5 but then only won one more game in the next two sets.
7th seed german Anke Huber was on the rise and always dangerous. She threatened Cap in the quarters, but couldn't harm her enough.
8th seed Katerina Maleeva was drawn to play Steffi Graf in the quarters but was the early big casuality of the tournament and only seed to not make the quarterfinals. 16th seed Sabine Appelmans advanced instead but got whitewashed by Graf 6:1 6:0.

Other names in the draw included Jana Novotna (seeded 9) who got knocked out in the first round by Natasha Zvereva, austrian Barbara Paulus who made the second round but fell to Huber and 13th seed Mary Pierce in action for France, who lost a thriller against Yayuk Basuki from Indonesia after a 6:0 opening set with 3:6 8:10.

The best matches involved Jennifer Capriati when she took out Sanchez-Vicario and Graf and proved that she can win big titles. She didn't manage to win Slams in the 90s, only after her glorious comeback.

Donnerstag, 31. Juli 2008

Step back in time: Olympics 1988 - Women's Singles


The olympics kick off in roundabout 8 days and with that, the olympic tennis event. The ladies will battle it our for gold, silver and bronze, pretty much as they did at the past olympics, which wasn't always the cause.

In 1988 Tennis regained the olympic status as an amateur sports and so the ladies (and gentlemen of course) were able to compete again. In 1984 - for those of you who wonder - tennis was also part of the games but no medals were given away.

The 1988 games will be remembered as the only golden slam ever achieved in tennis history, as Steffi Graf not only managed to win all four slams, but she also took home the gold medal in Seoul.
Here's a look at the top seed ladies and the biggest upsets:

1. Steffi Graf (GER) - ended up winning gold
2. Chris Evert (USA) - fell round of last 16 to Raffaella Reggi (ITA)
3. Gabriela Sabatini (ARG) - eventual silver medalist
4. Pam Shriver (USA) - struggled in all round, esp. round of last 16 against Katerina Maleeva and lost to 8th seed Zina Garrison in QF
5. Helena Sukova (TCH) - early round victim to unknown korean player
6. Natasha Zvereva (URS) - lost to Sabatini in QF
7. Manuela Maleeva (BUL) - knocked out surprise Quarterfinalist Raffaella Reggi to reach semis and win the bronze medal
8. Zina Garrison (USA) - knocked out Countrywoman Shriver to reach the semis and win the only medal for the states in singles competition (expectations were on Shriver and Evert). Lost in the semis to Graf.

Steffi Graf won the final 6:3 6:3 against Gabriela Sabatini and took home the gold medal. It's been the only gold medal for Graf at olympic-events.

Other names in the draw that became more important in the near future were players such as Jana Novotna, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario or Nathalie Tauziat. All of them lost too early to really have a medal-chance.

Let me follow your thoughts on these "retro"-olympics ;-)