COLIN Fleming insists the only comfort he can now get after an early exit in the men’s doubles at Rio 2016 will be if his support from the stands can help a GB team-mate take home a medal.
The 31-year-old and playing partner Dom Inglot never got going in their first-round match with Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez and Miguel-Angel Reyes-Varela, losing 6-3 6-0 in 51 minutes.
A solitary break in the eighth game of the first set proved the difference before the British pair fell away in the second to exit in the first round just as they did in London four years ago. The pair may have had a late night at the Opening Ceremony on Friday, and, while Fleming believes that had no bearing on the result, he would like to now ensure he makes the most of his time in Rio.
“It means everything to come and play here, that’s why it’s so upsetting,” he said. “If it had been a normal tour event it would have been disappointing but you’d move on and play the following week. At the Olympics there isn’t a next week, so it’s a chance missed.
“It’s such a big event, so maybe we needed something to get us going and we never got that from behind and it went from bad to worse. I was absolutely buzzing after the Opening Ceremony. I didn’t go to the ceremony in London because I was so nervous to play. I’ve done it both ways and struggled so you can’t say it made a difference [to go to the ceremony].
“Last time in London I didn’t stay around after losing and I regret that. I’ll stick around now and support the rest of the tennis team. I’m really excited for them and I’ll be at the side of the court. I hope to see some other events as well and support Team GB.”
Inglot had a blunter verdict. "It's pretty embarrassing, to be honest." the Englishman said. "Terrible. I'm going to try and blank out this day as soon as humanly possible."
There was no such trouble for Kyle Edmund though as he cruised past Australia’s Jordan Thompson in straight sets. A dominant display in the blistering Rio heat saw the 21-year-old seal a 6-4 6-2 win to set up a clash with Japan’s Taro Daniel, who defeated USA’s 14th seed Jack Sock.
Edmund believes while five days of gruelling training in the build up to his opener were tough, they served him well. “It was good, it was just nice to get the win really,” he said.
“There has been quite a lot of training since my last match in Toronto and I got here on Monday, so it has been five days of training so I just wanted to get going. Sometimes you can over-think practice a bit too much but it was nice, and I got in there and I played pretty well and I was happy with my game. The score showed that I played well as well so it was just nice to kick things off with a win.
“In practice I have been trying to get the balance right. Sometimes I have been a bit too aggressive, sometimes a bit too passive, because the balls really fluff up and lose their freshness quite quickly here and become slow. But I got the balance pretty good out there.”
Heather Watson also had an encouraging victory in her first-round match as she beat Shuai Peng of China 6-4 6-7 6-3 in two and a half hours.
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