One thing you can say for the men’s draw at the Olympics: It’s different. Refreshingly different. Where the Grand Slams sprawl beyond memory's reach, and the Masters’ draws get flat-out repetitive, the lineup for the Games is simpler and more surprising. There are 64 players rather than 128. There are no byes. But because the players are chosen by country as well as ranking, there are faces you don’t always see floating in between the usual big-name suspects. Until the final, the matches are also two out of three, instead of Wimbledon’s three out of five. That could potentially make things less predictable, though it should be pointed out that playing two of three sets, even on grass, is hardly a new or strange phenomenon for these guys.
Unfortunately, there’s one other difference, and there’s no getting around its negative effect: There’s no Rafael Nadal at the top or bottom or anywhere else. The Top 4, or at least the Top 3, are such a phenomenon at this point that when one is missing, a big event feels unbalanced, like a chair with a leg that's too short.
Here’s a look at how the players who have made it to London may fare when they go for gold. There’s a lot to play for, and a lot of pressure on every game and set. An Olympic medal is something special for any athlete, something revered, something that everyone recognizes as a rare achievement. And, as Rafa said in Beijing, “It’s once every four years, no?”