Novak Djokovic and Ash Barty set their sights on Olympic gold medal

World No. 1 tennis players Novak Djokovic and Ash Barty are both aiming to win the gold medal for their respective countries at the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo, which has been postponed to 2021 due to the Olympic Games.

Novak Djokovic and Ash Barty on the upcoming Olympics

Speaking to the ITF website, Serbia's Djokovic says, “It is one of the dreams, of course. I don’t want to be ungrateful for winning bronze, because that was also a big success. I made the semis in London but lost there for third place as well, but I always find an extra motivation to perform at my best when I’m representing my country, especially at the Olympic Games, as we all know it’s the most historical sports event. Having the opportunity to be surrounded by elite athletes from their sports and get a chance to see them compete at the highest sporting event is an honour. It’s a privilege. Hopefully I can draw some strength from there and I can be in good form and have a chance to fight for a medal.”

24 year old Australia's Barty said she is looking forward to playing the Olympics for the first time to the ITF website as well. “I can’t wait. There is no better feeling than representing Australia and it will be my first Olympic Games. I’d obviously love to bring home a gold medal for my country! As a sport lover, I’m also hoping to spend some time watching and supporting Australia’s other athletes.”

The two will be hoping to join Germany's Steffi Graf and Belgium's Justine Henin as the only players to win the Olympic Gold while being ranked No. 1 in the world, assuming they stay at the top of the world rankings till the time the Olympics come around next year.

The 2020 Summer Olympics is now scheduled for 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. Originally scheduled to take place between 24 July and 9 August 2020, it was postponed in March 2020 due to the global pandemic. Although it is being held in 2021, the Games will still be called Tokyo 2020 for marketing and branding purposes. This is the first time that the Olympic Games have been postponed rather than cancelled. Puerto Rico's Monica Puig and Great Britain's Andy Murray had won the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Games. Novak Djokovic is a 17 time Grand Slam champion while Ash Barty has won the French Open in 2019.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2D5JKe4