The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has confidently told Ubitennis that the Olympic Tennis Center will be completed in time for the August Games.
In recent weeks there has been concerns about the state of the venue as well as others for the 2016 Games. Last week ITF president David Haggerty said that ‘he will remain worried until the lights are fitted’. The tennis center, which will host a number of matches at night time, is yet to fit any lighting at the venue. They also still need to lay another coat on the surface of the tennis courts.
Regardless of the ongoing work and concerns, the ITF has expressed their confidence that the venue will be ready in time.
“With regards to the venue, it is 95% complete, but there are a few critical parts that still need to be finished. We remain confident that it will be finished before the Games,” the communications department told ubitennis.net.
The Olympic tennis competition will begin on August 5th with 172 participants taking part in five events. The venue is located at the Barra Olympic Park, the west zone of Rio de Janeiro. The center court will be named after famous Brazilian tennis player Maria Bueno. Bueno won 18 Grand Slam titles during her career in the 1950s and 1960s (seven singles and 11 doubles).
Nadal’s Olympic ambition
One of the players aiming for golden success in Rio will be Rafael Nadal, who won gold at the 2008 games. This year, Nadal will lead the entire Spanish Olympic team at the Olympic ceremony after being named their official flag bearer. The Spaniard was nominated to carry the flag in 2012 but was forced to withdraw from the London games due to injury. The Spanish Olympic Committee said that Nadal was the stand out candidate for the honor.
“This is a great honor,” Nadal told local media.
“I’m very excited. I hope the games will be great and that the entire Spanish team can do well.”
The chance to win an Olympic gold doesn’t occur regularly for athletes with the games taking place every four years. Speaking about the Olympics, Nadal described the gold medal as the toughest thing to win in a tennis player’s career.
“There’s no doubt the Olympic Games are the toughest tournament to win in the world of tennis because you have only one, two, maybe three opportunities in your career. In Slams you have maybe 50. In Olympics everything has to be right in that single week,” the nine-time French Open champion said.
The current Olympic men’s champion is Andy Murray, who will be bidding to become the first man to win back-to-back gold medals at an Olympic tennis event. The draw will also feature 2008 bronze medalist Novak Djokovic and 2012 silver medalist Roger Federer.
