Team FedRinka wins Gold

Roger Federer extended his arms in triumph and began to hop. Then he embraced his doubles partner and they hopped together.

Federer had waited awhile for a big victory to celebrate, and when the chance came he was ready. He added a gold medal to his extensive trophy collection by teaming with Stanislas Wawrinka to win the Olympic doubles Saturday.

The Swiss duo beat Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3.

For Federer the victory was a moment to savor in a frustrating year. He lost in the quarterfinals of Olympic singles, his Grand Slam total has been stalled at 12 since last September and his 41/2-year reign atop the rankings will end Monday when Rafael Nadal becomes No. 1.

But he’s now a medalist for the first time in his three Olympics.

“Sort of a dream-come-true moment,” Federer said. “Maybe it comes around once in a lifetime. It’s almost disbelief, to some degree.”


Venus and Serena Williams are assured of a doubles medal, too. They advanced to Sunday’s final by beating another sibling pair, Ukraine’s Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.