By Britwatch Team
- PART 1:
- PART 2: Olympic glory beckons, but for who?
- PART 3: We gaze into our crystal tennis balls for our favourite Brits
It’s that time of year when the Britwatch tennis writing team decide to flex their prediction muscles and name their favourites for the big honours in 2016! In Part One we look at theRio 2016 Olympics.
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Rio 2016 Olympics
| Men’s Singles | Women’s Singles | Doubles | Mixed Doubles | |
| Ros Satar | Roger Federer | Serena Williams | M: Murray Brothers
W: Muguruza/ Suárez Navarro |
Federer/Hingis |
| Niall Clarke | Roger Federer | Serena Williams | M: Bryan Brothers
W: Garcia/Mladenovic |
Federer/Hingis |
| Naomi Cavaday | Roger Federer | Garbiñe Muguruza | M: Bryan Brothers
W: Safarova/Strycova |
Mirza/Someone (!) |
| Glenys Furness | Andy Murray or Rafael Nadal | Serena Williams | M: Bryan Brothers / Murray Brothers
W: Williams Sisters |
Federer/Hingis |
Ros Satar
Men’s Singles – Roger Federer (SUI): With the prospect of a speedy court and the bold, yet of course tentative schedule that cuts out most of the clay court season to focus on Wimbledon and the Olympics, this feels like a concerted effort to add the one singles title that eludes him. With the maybe surprising addition of Ivan Ljubicic to his coaching team as Stefan Edberg’s time is done, this is the clearest intent of what will be important to Federer for 2016
Women’s Singles – Serena Williams (USA): She may only have one slam in the bag in my predictions, but I also see her retaining the Olympic Gold.
Men’s Doubles – Murrays (GBR): After a year which saw the Bryans drop from the World No. 1, can they regroup? It would be interesting to see if the Murray brothers pair up once more in the doubles – in the past they have been a bit of a disaster but this year at the Davis Cup they came together well, most notable in the quarter-finals and semi-finals where the elder Murray was a driving force. If Murray junior fails to defend his singles title, a doubles title with his brother could be the icing on the cake.
Women’s Doubles – Garbiñe Muguruza & Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP): After enjoying themselves in the WTA Finals, expect to see this pairing continue to play albeit maybe not as much in 2016 give Muguruza’s catapult into the higher echelons.
Mixed Doubles – Roger Federer/Martina Hingis (SUI): Difficult to predict but the much hyped pairing of Federer and Martina Hingis could well do it – after all he doesn’t have a Mixed doubles win to his name yet either.
Niall Clarke
Men’s Singles – Roger Federer (SUI): The surface is rumoured to be a fast indoor hard court which will suit the Swiss down to the ground. An Olympic gold in singles is all that is missing from Federer’s record and with the surface on his side and huge motivation going in, Federer will overcome Murray in a repeat of the 2012 final.
Women’s Singles – Serena Williams (USA): One slam only for Serena, but she will retain her Olympic crown. The world number one will be tough to break on a fast surface and she will overcome Kvitova in a great final.
Men’s Doubles – The Bryan Brothers (USA): A difficult choice, but the safe option is the Bryan brothers. A lot of the great doubles teams on the ATP tour feature mixed nationalities, but the Bryan brothers have ton of experience together and won gold in London four years a go.
Women’s Doubles – Caroline Garcia & Kristina Mladenovic (FRA): The French pairing confirmed they will be playing together throughout the season, most likely to prepare for this very event. Garcia and Mladenovic destroyed the then number one team of Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci in the Fed Cup, so they have proven they can play together.
Mixed Doubles – Roger Federer & Martina Hingis (SUI): The pair have confirmed they will team for the Olympics and it is hard to see who will be able to top them. Hingis is one half of the best doubles team in the women’s game and it is fair to say Federer is no slouch either. Switzerland will bag their second gold in the games.
Naomi Cavaday
Men’s Singles – Roger Federer (SUI): Roger has always understood the sense of occasion and the Olympics has a very different feel to any other event in the world of tennis. He enjoys the most support of any player and that will help carry him to the top of the podium. Djokovic will be left with the silver.
Women’s Singles – Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP): This will be a triumph for Garbine. I am expecting a couple of blinding weeks from her in 2016 and this will be one of them. Radwanska will stand next to her on the podium with her silver.
Men’s Doubles – Bryans (USA): No other pair will have played together like these two and that goes a long way in doubles. Straightforward.
Women’s Doubles –Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova (CZE): Anything could happen in this event but the Czech team are pretty solid and got some good practice in together in 2015. I’d put my money on them but this is anyone’s guess!
Mixed Doubles – Sania Mirza and Someone (IND): The classy dream team of Hingis and Federer will go far and take the silver but amazingly Mirza has more than one option for a very good partner. I am sure she won’t get sucked in to the drama like 2012 but will pick the right partner to nab that medal.
Glenys Furness
Men’s Singles – Andy Murray (GBR) or Rafael Nadal (ESP): Nadal missed 2012 Olympics, so I see this being between him and reigning Gold medallist Murray for the Gold this year. Murray will be looking to defend the title he won on home soil at the last Olympics, and Nadal will be out to prove he is still a force to be reckoned with.
Women’s Singles– Serena Williams (USA): Williams will retain her Gold Medal with the same ease in which it was won in 2012 – easy victories without expending too much energy.
Men’s Doubles – Bryan Brothers (USA): Again, the Bryans are likely to defend their doubles Gold medal barely dropping a set. As this anomaly only comes up every 4 years the normal doubles pairings cannot play together unless they belong to the same country meaning that any main challenge to the brothers would be a surprise.
However, If Andy & Jamie Murray team up for the Olympics they could sneak the Gold having played so well as a team during the Davis Cup run last year. If they chose to compete in the doubles it would be a fool who would discount them
Women’s Doubles: Williams Sisters (USA): Like the Bryans the Williams sisters will be hard to beat. Playing together a lot at the slams and some events leading upto the Olympics, the sisters will take this title for their collection.
Mixed Doubles – Roger Federer/Martina Hingis (SUI): Federer and Hingis are teaming up for the Olympics. This will be the only Gold either of them win, Federer will yet again miss out on the Singles Gold.
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