Olympic Tennis 2012: Top Stars Still in the Medal Hunt

The fabled All England Tennis and Croquet Club is the host this week for the Olympic tennis tournament and, despite not being truly all green, has done a wonderful job so far hosting so quickly after Wimbledon.

While it seems a bit weird to see London 2012 pasted on the walls at Centre Court and all references to long-time sponsor Rolex gone, the grass has held up well and the quality of play has been very high.

Sunday’s rain that cancelled play on the outer courts for most of the day led to a whopping 55 matches to play Monday. With the backlog mostly caught up, it is time to see where the big stars' chances lie as they progress through this short tournament.

Unlike the grand slams, the Olympics is just a one-week affair, with the men playing for the gold Sunday morning here in the United States.

It is also only a best-of-three-set match for the men with no tiebreak in the third set for anyone. If a player loses their semifinal, they can still earn a medal if they win the Bronze Medal Match.

Here is how the top six stars fare as they try and go for the gold at tennis’ most hallowed ground.

Serena Williams

The Wimbledon champion has dropped all of nine games through her first two matches, looking extremely quick and efficient in the process.

Seeded fourth, her power game is the perfect fit on grass and her serve has been solid so far.

She faces the Russian Vera Zvonareva in her third-round match and could face Caroline Wozniacki in a quarterfinal.

While Zvonareva was pushed in her opener by former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in her opening match, Williams should be able to power her way through. Wozniacki has not had a great summer and has been pushed to three sets in both her matches so far this week.

Serena’s medal chances are really solid and a Wimbledon-Olympic double is certainly a good possibility. 

Victoria Azarenka

The Australian Open champion spent the first half of the season on fire, winning everything in sight, but a stumble at the French derailed her a bit.

While not being able to win the grand slam this year, she was a semifinalist at Wimbledon three weeks ago before bowing out to Serena Williams.

The Belarusian was taken to three sets in her first-round match, but she should be able to get to her quarterfinal with ease.

That quarter should feature either Venus Williams, who breezed through her first-round match, upsetting the ninth-seeded Sara Errani easily in straight sets, or the seventh-seeded German Angelique Kerber.

If Azarenka survives that, she potentially faces Serena with a medal on the line. A tough task for both.

Maria Sharapova

Sharapova dropped all of two games in her opening-round win over Israeli Shahar Peer and found her own half of the bracket open up for her when the second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska was upset in three sets.

Sharapova has really come back into form this year, highlighted by her winning the French Open in straight sets and giving her a career grand slam.

She would potentially face either Kim Clijsters or Ana Ivanovic in the quarters and Petra Kitova in a semi.

Her game is too good right now unless Clijsters just gets incredibly hot, and Sharapova probably faces the easiest road in getting to the final.

Roger Federer

While the king of grass struggled in his first-round match, Federer breezed through his second, surrendering just four games on his way to the third round.

Federer faces either John Isner or Janko Tipsarevic in a quarter and David Ferrer in a semi. With Rafael Nadal sidelined with an injury, Federer really got the much better half of he draw as the top seed.

Anything less than the Gold Medal Match for the Wimbledon champion would be a major disappointment.

Grass is his best surface and there is no one that really matches his game in the upper half of the draw.

Novak Djokovic

Surprisingly taken to a third set in his opener, the Australian Open champion has a rather strong second-round opponent in Andy Roddick.

While Djokovic is a magnificent returner of serve, Roddick is an old-school player that loves keeping his points as short as possible. This could be a troubling match for Djokovic, as it is only a best-of-three-set affair and the margin of error is almost non-existant.

Looking ahead to his quarterfinal, he would potentially face the big Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Tsonga has enough game to give Djokovic something to think about at least. If he survives that, Andy Murray more than likely awaits.

Djokovic’s ride to a gold is going to be a rough one, especially if he faces Great Britain’s hope in Murray in the semis.

Andy Murray

Certainly no pressure on Andy here, right?

After taking the first set off Roger Federer in his latest attempt at Grand Slam glory, Murray is back at famed Wimbledon to win a medal.

With Tomas Berdych upset in the first round, really only the Spaniard Nicolas Almagro stands in his way of at least getting to the semifinal and the Bronze Medal Match.

Luckily for Murray, Almagro has never made it to the second week of Wimbledon and has never made it past the quarterfinal of any major.

Unluckily for Murray, Novak Djokovic should be his opponent in a semifinal. If Murray happens to prevail then a potential rematch with Roger Federer awaits.

Humbled in his defeat three weeks ago, a gold medal for Murray would be the highlight of the home team in their Olympics.