{"id":39414,"date":"2021-07-22T11:31:22","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T15:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=39414"},"modified":"2021-07-22T11:22:40","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T15:22:40","slug":"tokyo-olympics-womens-roundtable-predictions-champion-dark-horse-early-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2021\/07\/22\/tokyo-olympics-womens-roundtable-predictions-champion-dark-horse-early-exit\/","title":{"rendered":"Tokyo Olympics Women\u2019s Singles Roundtable Predictions: Champion, Dark Horse, and Early Exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (taking place in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), five Last Word On Tennis writers-\u2013Vithun Illankovan, Damian Kust, Anurag Sahay, Jakub Bobro and Yesh Ginsburg\u2013-make their Women\u2019s Singles predictions. We will also have a separate roundtable for\u00a0the Men\u2019s Singles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tokyo Olympics Women\u2019s Roundtable Predictions<\/h2>\n

Champion<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Who will win gold at Tokyo 2020?<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

Vithun<\/em>:\u00a0[2] Naomi Osaka (JPN)<\/h4>\n

I do feel Osaka is rather overrated by some and is quite fortunate that there are two hardcourt Grand Slams each year otherwise she would only have half as many Grand Slams.\u00a0She has never beaten a Top 20 player on clay or grass courts, never won a title whilst having the pressure of being World No.1, and has never successfully defended a title.<\/p>\n

However, this tournament is on hard court, she is ranked No.2, and is not defending champion. In addition to the favorable conditions she needs in order to succeed, she has also been given a good draw. With a decent record in Japan, this should be a very winnable tournament for Osaka, especially as top seed Ashleigh Barty has just won Wimbledon and nobody on the WTA Tour has won two consecutive titles of elite magnitude (Grand Slam, WTA Finals, Olympics) within the same season since 2015. Therefore, I predict Osaka to win and the media to hype her to near-GOAT status.<\/p>\n

Damian<\/em>:\u00a0[2] Naomi Osaka (JPN)<\/strong>
\nWe know nothing about her form as she hasn\u2019t played since the French Open<\/a>, but she\u2019s been very dominant on hard courts in the past couple of years, and often performs very well at home. I think the draw has turned out in a way that Osaka will have a bit of time to play herself into form (only Golubic is a threat before the quarterfinals). Then she should be ready to take on Swiatek in the last eight.<\/p>\n

Anurag<\/em>:\u00a0[1] Ashleigh Barty (AUS)<\/h4>\n

Gold medalists are flag-bearers who do their country proud time and again. Barty is the epitome of Australia\u2019s sporting spirit. Although she is making her debut and she might get another chance to represent Australia in the next edition, this is probably her best shot at the Gold<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>