Winning the gold medal at Wimbledon in 2012 was one of the most significant moments of Andy Murray’s career, and most agree that it was the springboard to his two Grand Slam titles, which is probably why the World No.2 supports the Olympic Games adamantly, despite the fact that the ATP a no longer offers rankings points and prize money to players.
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“I think the reason I'm playing [at the Olympics] is to try and win medals; it's not necessarily for ranking points,” Murray said after his straight-sets win over John Isner on Sunday at Roland Garros. “I know how special [the 2012 London Olympics] was for me, so that's why I obviously commit to playing the Olympics. I don't understand why some of the players don't want to play.”
Many players are electing not to travel to Rio this year, citing busy schedules and the lack of prize money as their reasons. Ernests Gulbis likened the Olympics to “tennis tourism” on Friday, saying he didn’t like the lack of points and prize money.
The truth is that not all players have ideal support from their Federations. Gulbis said he paid for his own flights for many years to support Latvia’s Davis Cup efforts. “I used to pay for my own flights to Davis Cup,” Gulbis said. “I used to pay always for my own courts. So it was always coming out of my pocket. That's the difference. For example, Canadian Tennis Federation, how much they are helping their players. English Tennis Federation, how much they are helping their players, and USA, I think even Italy. They help a lot more. That's why, for example, for them it would be, in a way, not like obligation but from my side it would be.”
Murray still doesn’t get it.
“The ranking points thing, I don't really mind too much,” he said. “They changed it also with Davis Cup as well. Now there are no points in Davis Cup, which is, you know, fine. You know, there are different reasons for playing tournaments sometimes, and for me, Davis Cup and Olympics, I'm not playing for ranking points.”
Before he left Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal stressed that he’s in the same boat as Murray. He can’t understand who would pass up the opportunity to play in Rio.
“Everybody's free to do whatever, but the experience of competing in an Olympic Games is completely different than any other event,” he said. “The Olympics is the most important event in the world of sport. If you don't want to be in the most important event in the world of sport, then is difficult to understand what's the motivation for the rest of the things, no?”
He added: “For sure, I cannot understand people who don't want to go to Olympics. No, is something that is not every year. Is an event that you can compete only once, twice, or three in your career maybe, if you are lucky. So you don't want to miss that.”