Rafael Nadal Wins Gold!!

Golden Boy Nadal Takes Olympic Glory; Silver For Gonzalez
© Getty Images No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal (pictured) won Spain’s first singles Olympic Games gold medal after defeating silver medalist Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-3 in Beijing on Sunday. Mallorca native Nadal, who has been ranked World No. 2 for 160 weeks, will end Roger Federer’s 237 week reign at the top of the South African Airways ATP Rankings on Monday courtesy of an outstanding season that has seen him now win eight titles. The 22-year-old Spaniard captured titles at Masters Series Monte-Carlo (d. Federer) and Barcelona (d. Ferrer), before embarking on a 32-match winning streak that included Masters Series titles at Hamburg (d. Federer) and Toronto (d. Kiefer), his first grass court title at Queen’s Club (d. Djokovic), his fourth successive Roland Garros title (d. Federer) and a remarkable five-set victory at Wimbledon over Federer. Making his Olympic Games singles debut, Nadal becomes the highest-ranked player to win an Olympic men’s singles titles, taking over from Andre Agassi who was ranked No. 6 when he won in Atlanta 1996. The left-hander was largely in control throughout the gold medal match and stamped his authority early on, breaking the 28-year-old Gonzalez in his opening service game to establish a 3-0 lead. The Chilean saved a set point when serving at 2-5, but Nadal quickly closed out the set on serve with a forehand winner 6-3. World No. 15 Gonzalez came close to leveling the match at one-set all, but squandered two set points with Nadal serving at 5-6, 15-40 and the Spaniard capitalized on Gonzalez’s disappointment to seal the tie-break with a convincing 7-2 score line, as Gonzalez’s explosive forehand landed wide on set point. La Reina resident Gonzalez survived early break points in the third set, but Nadal earned a breakthrough in the fourth game with a pin-point accurate backhand pass to lead 3-1. Gonzalez continued to fight and had chances to break the Nadal serve at 5-2, before also saving three match points serving at 3-5. However, the right-hander’s resistance could not continue and Nadal showed no nerves in serving out the gold medal match, finishing with a flourish as a big forehand forced a reply into the net from Gonzalez. I'm sooo proud of him!!!...I love him sooooo much!!....LOL...He's the best tennis player for me...don't care what anyone else says..Now these are the things that give me pleasure!!