arguably their best medal hope
– the men's doubles team of
Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares in
the quarterfinals – but Sao Paulo
native Thomaz Bellucci provided
several high notes in the singles,
defeating two seeded players in
a plucky run to the quarterfinals
that cranked up the noise on
Centre Court to deafening levels.
It was perhaps fitting that the
women's doubles final was won
by Ekaterina Makarova and Elena
Vesnina, given that the Russian
duo had endured a nightmare
journey to the Brazilian capital
that nearly derailed their hopes
of fulfilling a lifelong dream.
Having been held up in Montreal
where they had won the title the
previous week, the pair made the
most of being in Rio once finally
there – beating Swiss pair Timea
Bacsinszky and Martina Hingis to
the gold medal.
"We wanted an Olympic
medal, especially gold medal,
since we were juniors," said
Makarova. "We're so happy
that we won two Grand Slams,
but the Olympic Games for us
means much more. Our dream
came true."
Serena Williams, meanwhile,
endured a torrid Olympics by her
sublime standards. Both she and
sister Venus had hoped to claim
their fifth gold medals to extend
their joint-record for most golds
won in Olympic tennis, but only
Venus came away from Rio
with a medal after taking silver
alongside Rajeev Ram in the
mixed doubles.
