It’s either gold or silver for Monica Puig…
The 22-year-old Puerto Rican tennis player stunned two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the Women’s Signles semifinals, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, to advance to the Gold Medal match at the 2016 Rio Games.
Puig, who will face Angelique Kerber of Germany, has guaranteed Puerto Rico it’s ninth’s Olympic medal all-time, it made her the island’s first female medalist in any sport and gives her a chance to claim her country’s first-ever gold.
“For me it would mean the world,” said Puig. “It would be unbelievable and the biggest honor in the world. I’m doing it more for my country. This Olympics isn’t about me it’s about Puerto Rico and I know how bad they want this. This isn’t for me this is for them.”
Even Puig couldn’t have imagined she’d be in this position when the week began. Ranked 34th in the world, she owns just one career WTA title and has never been past the fourth round of a Grand Slam.
But she has found a different gear in Rio, upsetting French Open champion Garbine Muguruza and 11th-ranked Kvitova on her way to the final, double-jumping high into the air and covering her face with her hands as match point ended.
She also had significant support from the crowd, including a smattering of Puerto Rican flags waving through the stadium.
“I don’t think I’m so much a different play but my team sat me down after the first match her and said if you want to win you have to step it up and show everyone why you deserve to win,” she said. “That kind of changed my perspective. I have a lot of responsibility not just to myself but my country and if I want this I need to step it up.”
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