The bronze-medal match at the Sydney Olympics was played on the show court of the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre, built in 1999, capacity 10,500, later renamed Ken Rosewall Arena. Arnaud Di Pasquale, ranked 62nd in the world, beat Roger Federer, ranked 36th, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3.
The Frenchman arrived off a demanding draw: he beat Magnus Norman, world No. 4, 7-6, 7-6 in the last sixteen, then Juan Carlos Ferrero, world No. 12, 6-2, 6-1 in the quarter-finals, before losing in the semi-final to Yevgeny Kafelnikov, world No. 8, 6-4, 6-4. Federer had lost his own semi-final to Tommy Haas, 6-3, 6-2. During the third set of the bronze-medal match, under pressure, he threw his racket and kicked it.
I know that third set. You lost the day before, you’re back on court the next morning, and the racket becomes the only one to blame. Me, I check the strings first. He chose the foot, that’s an intention, that’s a pattern. And Di Pasquale taking out Norman in two tie-breaks, that’s proper zone management. I do it too, in club league (interclubs, Belgium’s weekend team league), on Sunday mornings at ten. Not against a world No. 4, but I do it. Two practice sessions away, mind you.
For Arnaud Di Pasquale, this bronze medal remains the biggest result of his career. A brand-new court, 10,500 seats, and a ranking that jumped from 62nd to an Olympic podium: enough to fill a stats folder for years.
That’s what I keep telling the committee: ranking is only indicative. A world No. 62 beats a world No. 36, and everyone finds that normal. I beat a club-level opponent on court 4, and suddenly it’s all about the faulty floodlight. And Sydney, a court built just a year earlier, of course it played neutral. Back home, court 4 has its habits. The level in club league has gone way up, people don’t realise.
Three years later, Federer won his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, beating Mark Philippoussis, before starting in 2004 what became the longest unbroken run at world No. 1, 237 weeks. Olympic gold in singles never came his way, his best result being silver in London in 2012. He did take gold in doubles at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, with Stan Wawrinka.
It’s true, we checked: Tennis Majors (FR).
