NMQ

For the frontrunners are still Santiago Lange and Cecilia Carranza. But the tennis federation nomimated Del Potro and Nadia Podoroska. Decision to be made by tuesday or wednesday next week. I still can´t believe Del Potro will play in Tokio, so it would be a total surprise if they choose him.

That was odd from Teichmann because she is playing these weeks after missing Roland Garros. Tig and Zidansek are also out, but so far not many withdrawals in the women's draw.

I missed it, but Shapovalov also out. 5 of the current top 15 ATP players won´t be in Tokyo (Nadal, Thiem, Bautista Agut, Ruud, Shapo). Still a few more days to withdraw, so brace yourselves.

Could be wrong, but I think there is a 3 day quarantine upon arrival.

Pella and Ruusuvuori also out.

Bautista Agut won´t go to Tokyo

So the qualification period ended today and this monday rankings will be used. Here's a tentative list i saw in Wikipedia, don’t know if one of you guys is behind it. I think there will be changes, it excludes some players due fed cup/davis cup nominations that I believe just were not selected at the time, like Karatsev I guess. Also other players will opt out, for example Federico Delbonis is included and he already said he won't go to Tokyo. I guess we'll have to wait a few days till confirmations from ITF. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_at_the_2020_Summer_Olympics_–_Qualification

Well, at least Jankovic and Radwanska can say they faced Serena in their finals, but the other ones... Myskina Roland Garros has been quite random for years as there hasn't been a dominant clay player since Henin retired and after Serena and Sharapova's peak passed. Halep could have been, but keeps losing to teenagers Wimbledon, on the other hand, is the less random GS. I think the last non GS finalist that won a title was Kvitova in 2011 (and was already in SF the year before) and before that Sharapova in 2004.

Yeah, but definitely less of a surprise than Bartoli (former Wimbledon finalist) and Lisicki (1 SF and 2 QF prior to that final), who both had beaten Serena in Wimbledon before the final. BTW, Barty-Vondrousova and Stephens-Keys were more unexpected IMO.

As a top 10 doubles player, Polasek is directly qualified and can choose any partner with a top 300 singles or doubles ranking, so why wouldn't they play?

Murray and Roddick are late to the party . It´s in her racquet, but the pressure of defending the title will come at some point, she hasn´t been challenged yet. Don´t know who can do that, though, all the players left in the draw are in their first QF in a slam except Pavlyuchenkova. Maybe Coco? We´ll see.

I heard that Magistrati had a back injury so couldn't train properly. A shame because it seems that it wasn't that hard to get the quota.

That`s about what any good person would do in a moment like that. Also, they have been close lately, playing doubles and training together. My knowledge about sports injuries is limited, but I think is 3 weeks minimum best scenario if it´s a soft one, 6+ weeks if it´s severe, right?

Yeah, amazing. I know Serena hasn't played since Australia and she isn't a force in clay since 2016, but still, one of the biggest wins ever for argentinian tennis. Nadia now 3/3 vs top 10 players, incredible. And now she has a very open draw with Osaka and Halep out in her section, let's see if she can keep the momentum. BTW, it seems Halep had a bad injury. I read she could miss several weeks, hope she recovers well because she really wanted to play in the Olympics.

Carlé pulls another upset, this time against Putintseva who was cramping and retired at the beggining of the 3rd. These were her first 2 matches against top 200 players!

Note her best surface and wasn`t feeling OK in the 3rd due to the heat, but still a big shock in the Billie Jean King Cup. #430 Lourdes Carlé beat #23 Rybakina to tie the series 1-1. A shame Podoroska couldn´t beat Putintseva, but now it´s open.

Didn´t know there was a Streaming

Russian olympic team. No exception for Efimova. It seems she will only swim the 100. https://rsport.ria.ru/20210410/plavanie-1727671343.html

Right now i´m pessimistic for , all our teams/athletes with medal chances are either a mistery or not in their best form, or compete in events that are hard to predict. All in all, I´d say something between 1-3. Our most realistic chances for a medal would be: Field hockey: women´s team should be our best shot this time, they just played their first couple official games in one year so it´s hard to judge their level, but I think they are favourites to medal unlike the last time. On the opposite, the men are the current champions, but the cycle has been a mess and I don´t think they will repeat the podium. Football (men): impossible to know, depends a lot on the names that can play and even then it´s kinda random. But the team will be more prepared than in Rio, that´s for sure. Judo (women´s 48 Kg): final olympic tournament por Paula Pareto. She won´t be a medal favourite this time I think, but she´s in the mix and with her experience and a good draw can make it happen. Sailing (Nacra17): current olympic champions, don´t think they are favourites for a medal again, but who knows, this one is very hard to guess. Smaller chances, but if all the planets align: Basketball (men): yeah, the team was the finalist in the last world cup, but that performance will be very hard to repeat and competition will be harder. I don´t see it happening. Rugby (men): not a medal favourite, but definitely a team that can be in the final 8. And if on the other side there´s no Fiji, then there´s a chance. Swimming (1500m women´s freestyle): if Pignatiello somehow peaks and throws a PB, it´s a slow race and one of Ledecky/Quadarella/Wang/Li/Kohler gets ill or something, then maybe... But won´t happen. Taekwondo (men´s 58 Kg): a later addition after posting, Guzmán won bronze in the last world championship, but no idea about his form now. Tennis: if the tournaments have random results, who knows, especially in doubles. Maybe Zeballos/Gonzalez (men) or Zeballos/Podoroska (mixed) can make some noise. The rest I don´t know (men´s volleyball?) or it´s too random (shooting?) or just won´t happen.

Jennifer Dahlgren, women´s hammer throw. A 4 time olympian and a consistent presence for Argentina in athletics, even though she could never perform well in big tournaments.

I think it's more the lack of ball kids. I saw a match from that tournament and they were playing like with 2 balls and going after them after every single point.

Iryna Khokhlova is competing for Ukraine again?

I think it´s open, most top doubles players don´t play together with their countrywomen on tour, so they should be in the mix. There are a lot of single players who could go far, like Sabalenka/Azarenka or Barty/Stosur. Zeballos/González and Zeballos/Podoroska will be in the mix too.

It´s not that she isn´t good. They split because Garcia wanted to focus on singles, but in 2019 they played together and won Fed Cup.