By Chris Oddo

(July 30, 2012)- -- The sun came out. The tarps came off. And the good lord said, "Let there be tennis."

I’ll do my best to sum up of what turned out to be a wildly entertaing day of Olympic tennis concisely. Here goes:

1. Finally, the sun!

53 matches were completed today, out of a scheduled 55, so nice job by Mother Nature letting us get some tennis in. But watch out, as tomorrow’s forecast calls for an 80 percent chance of rain. Fingers crossed.   

2. Doubles took center stage and nobody’s complaining

As I watched Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka take on Kei Nishikori and Go Soeda in a thrilling doubles match on Court 1, I couldn’t help but notice the fact that I was enjoying myself more than I had while watching any singles match in the tournament’s first three days.

As good as the singles storylines are right now, with Federer and Serena going for gold in singles, I still feel that the teamwork and diversified skillsets required to win in doubles make it a more compelling event than the singles on the Olympic stage.

Don't get me wrong: singles, doubles, mixed, I'll eat it all up and come back for seconds, but I think that the team tennis seems to resonate more with what I believe to be the Olympic spirit and I'm happy to see dubs getting lots of attention this week.
 
With the additional starpower that the likes of Federer, Tsonga, Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez, Janko Tipsarevic (all still in the draw) add to the storylines, there are sure to be some popcorn doubles tilts in the next few days. 

3. The Williams Sisters start strong

With Serena questing for her first singles gold, anything the 14-time Grand Slam champion does this week is going to make big news, but how refreshing was it to see Venus (who has a chance to tie for the all-time lead in Olympic tennis gold medals with 5 if she can do the double) jump all over Sara Errani in singles before pairing with Serena for another authoritative doubles victory later in the day?

When you think about all the work that Venus has put in to get her ranking up and qualify for this event it is hard not to be overcome with emotion. We saw the best of Venus today, and I think there’s a lot more where that came from. Stay tuned.

4. The Americans rally

With John Isner looking confident again, Andy Roddick rounding into form, and the Williams Sisters notching a total of three victories today, all the U S of A needed was a victory from less heralded Varvara Lepchenko to have a perfect 6-0 day. Lo and behold, Lepchenko got it done. Take that American tennis bashers.

5. Wozniacki and Wickmayer in a dogfight

Caroline Wozniacki reached the round of 16 with an extremely intense victory over Yanina Wickmayer today on Centre Court. The eighth-seeded Dane won a 13-deuce, 20-minute game over the always stubborn Wickmayer to take a 4-1 lead in the decider, but the heartbreaking loss did nothing to dampen the spirits of the Belgian. Wickmayer kept coming, and Wozniacki kept running down her attempts for winners. Finally, after two-and-a-half hours of rock-solid, in-your-face tennis, Wozniacki was through. She’ll face Daniela Hantuchova in the round of 16.

P.S. Wozniacki hit 7 aces. No joke.

6. The grass is all gone

That virgin grass that Eddie Seaward and Neil Stubley worked so hard to grow in the 20 days (doesn’t it seem like a lifetime ago already?) after Federer won Wimbledon is all but gone now. And that’s probably a good thing, as the dirt at the baselines allows for better footwork than that slippery stubble.

7. Ferrer and Feliciano into the doubles quarterfinals

The Spanish duo has gone extra innings in each of their two matches this far. They beat the fourth-seeded Polish duo of Fyrstenberg and Matkowski 8-6 in the 3rd set on Saturday and today they outlasted Jurgen Melzer and Alexander Peya 11-9 in the third. Pretty impressive stuff for Ferrer, who rarely plays dubs, and Lopez, who is here because of Rafael Nadal’s knees.

Other notable pairings into round two: Janko Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra, Nikolay Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny.

8. Fed as a dubs guru

Watching Federer in doubles is a spectacular experience, particularly because it’s something we rarely get to see. But also because he appears to be so invested at the Olympics. He was switched on emotionally from the get-go today, and Fed is aware of the fact that his teammate, Stan Wawrinka, is prone to moping at times, so he seems to not only be playing lead shotmaker, he’s also playing on-court spiritual leader. Today was impressive as the Swiss pair fought off a valiant effort from the Japanese. Federer’s forehand was just plain gorgeous, and he really seemed to enjoy having the space between the tram lines no longer be off limits.

But his emotions were what really struck me.

9. Delish match-ups for Day 4

Roddick vs. Djokovic, Raonic vs. Tsonga, Williams Sisters vs. Kerber and Lisicki, Federer/Wawrinka vs. Erlich/ Ram,  Huber/Raymond vs. Radwanska Sisters, Gasquet vs. Baghdatis.

10. The Hunkathon

Juan Monaco vs. Feliciano Lopez 

See you tomorrow!

(Photo Credit: Getty)