Olympic gold medallist 'really sad' after 'destroying friendship' with victory
Tomas Machac felt bad after winning a gold medal with Katerina Siniakova.
Tomas Machac admitted that he was “really sad” Zhizen Zhang after beating his friend and rival to win Olympic gold in the mixed doubles event.
Teaming up with Katerina Siniakova, who he is rumoured to still be dating, Machac earned his first medal for Czechia. It went down to the wire as they beat Zhang and Xinyu Wang of China in a match tiebreak 6-2 5-7 [10-8].
It was unusual for Machac and Zhang to be on opposite sides of the net as they regularly play men’s doubles together on the ATP Tour. And after missing out on gold, Zhang joked that their friendship was over.
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“Our friendship is totally broken. He destroyed my Olympic Games… everything,” the Chinese star laughed. The mixed doubles final wasn’t the only time Machac thwarted the 27-year-old’s hopes in Paris - he also beat Zhang in the men’s singles event.
Zhang continued: “This is a joke. We have a really good relationship. Even if he beat me twice this week, one time finals and one first round.” And there are no hard feelings from the world No. 41, who wants to qualify for the ATP Finals in doubles with Machac.
“We have a strong relationship. We have really good memories in doubles… Our goal is to [be in] Turin,” he added. And the jokes continued in the locker room as Machac revealed that Zhang tried to kick him out.
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“I came to the locker room to change to the ceremony outfit, and unfortunately they put me in the same locker room (as him). He was joking like I had to leave, it was funny,” the Czech star said.
While it’s all a laugh and Zhang has no animosity towards Machac, the 23-year-old admitted he felt bad for his friend after the final. He explained: “I feel really sad for him, because I know how he likes to represent his country, and to bring the gold medal.
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“He always said that it was his life goal to achieve any medal for the country. I’m really sad about it, but on the opposite, I’m also happy to receive the gold medal. I wish him all the best, I really like him as a person.”
Machac now has a shot at winning another medal as he is in the men’s doubles bronze playoff with Adam Pavlasek. They face Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul of the USA. He added: “I will do everything in my power to achieve that with Adam. Because I think he deserved it also. We have had a really good tournament here, so I think we deserve the bronze at least.”
