Nadia Petrova is geared up to win a medal at Olympics – Tennis News
Russian representatives in Olympics are dreaming for a gold medal at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon. Four top players; Maria Sharapova, Vera Zvonareva, Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova will be the face of the Russia
at Olympics. It is a pretty top class team to have on paper but all these players can easily fall off at big events so the gold medal is still on.
Maria Sharapova just lost the first rank to the Belarusian tennis ace, Victoria Azarenka, after a dismal run in the Wimbledon Championships. She was plonked in the fourth round of the contest and dropped a lot of points because
she had played the final in the previous edition of the tournament.
Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko are the doubles specialist in the Russian squad. They are capable of lifting the title with ease but they can also be a victim of an upset. So, there is a chance for the Russians to hold their
heads up with a medal around their chest but other players can knock them out on their days.
Petrova smartly crafted the position of her team in the upcoming Olympics in London by stating "The Russian mentality is if you are going to the Olympics you have got to be winning medals and failure is not acceptable. In Fed Cup
(the international tennis team competition for women) we have the same mentality. Russians are a bit hard on themselves and we have high expectations. We want to achieve a lot of or goals in our careers."
She couldn’t qualify for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 because of her low ranking. She couldn’t make the cut-off rank in the previous edition of Olympics but this time she is ranked 21 in the world and holds a spot in the Top-10
ranks in doubles category.
Petrova added, “I'm excited. I missed Beijing, but not by much, but that year we had four players in the top 10 and it was almost impossible. I remember playing a tournament in Cincinnati and watching it on TV.”
The Russian believes that her team has a capability of winning a gold medal at Wimbledon, later this month but doesn’t ensure it. She thinks the Russian squad is still a bit weak but it doesn’t mean that every other team from the
world is strong. It will be an interesting tournament and hopefully a medal filled second tour of Wimbledon for the Russians.
Tags: