Roberta Vinci celebrated probably the best period of a huge career since making the US Open final last year. The 33-year-old had an unbelievable surge in the rankings since then, and has been playing with a lot of confidence. That earned her a ticket to Rio and probably her last Olympics, since she has already considered retirement at the end of the year. Her results since March have not been that good, but enough for her to stay in the top eight and be the sixth seed in the Olympic tennis event. Also, she will be one of the oldest, so one of the most experienced players in the draw and that is important in an event that happens once in four years, like the Olympics.
Notable results to date
Since making the US Open final last year, Roberta Vinci ran some months of supreme form. Making the Wuhan Open and the Elite Trophy Zhuhai semifinals, she entered the 2016 season inside the world's top 15. After a third round exit in Australia, a great February, which included winning her 10th WTA title in St. Petersburg, helped her make her top ten debut. After that, she made the quarterfinals in Doha, but since then things have not been the same. After her great February, the Italian number one has made only the quarterfinals in Stuttgart and she has recorded a negative win/loss record. Her best result probably was the third round at Wimbledon where she lost to Coco Vandeweghe. She lost in the first round of the second Grand Slam of the year, the French Open.
Hard court results leading up to Olympics
After Wimbledon, Vinci started her summer hard court campaign in Montreal. Seeded seventh, after a bye in the first round, she faced big hitter Camila Giorgi in the second. After a grueling three-set fight, Vinci's experience prevailed and she proceeded to the third round. There, she lost to 18-year-old rising star Daria Kasatkina in straight sets. Moreover, she played doubles with Sara Errani but they lost in the first round in a match tiebreak.
Before the clay court season, though, Vinci's results on the hard court were decent and there were the ones that helped her crack inside the world's top ten. She won her first Premier title in St. Petersburg and made a couple of decent runs, beating quality players. However, since then, the Italian has struggled to find this form, so, these results are not really representative of her profile before Rio.
Past Olympic experiences
This would be Vinci's second Olympics as a singles player, but her fourth in doubles. As aforementioned, the Italian is one of the most experienced participants and has played a lot of matches for her country.
Her first Olympics were in Athens in 2004. She played doubles with Tathiana Garbin. They won their first match comfortably but dropped out in the second round to the number two seeds from Spain. In Beijing, she played doubles again with Mara Santangelo but they drew the number one seeds in the first round and lost. Finally, in London, she played singles but she did not manage to win a match, losing to Kim Clijsters in the first round. Playing doubles with Sara Errani as the number two seeds, they made the quarterfinals before dropping out to the Williams sisters.
Now, in probably her last Olympics, she plays singles as the sixth seed and doubles with Errani as the eight seeds.
How Vinci's game translates to the surface?
Hard is the most common surface in tennis nowadays and probably the easiest to adapt to. If you can't play well on hard courts, you will have a hard time elsewhere. Experienced players like Vinci can never have problems with hard courts. Indeed, the Italian plays her best tennis on hard courts proven by her run to the US Open final last year and her decent showings since then till February. If Vinci has any problems in Rio, they would most definitely not be related to the surface.
