A Cinderella Story
In one of the most heartwarming Cinderella stories in these 2016 Summer Olympic Games, Monica Puig from Puerto Rico has won the first ever Olympic gold medal for the tiny little island. Here is Puerto Rico in the world map (I hope you don't strain your eyes.):
Who the heck is Monica Puig?
Basically nobody who knows anything about the game of tennis gave Monica Puig much of a chance going into the games, but she just started off by winning her first match against Polona Hercog, WTA's 99th ranked player. Being WTA's 34th ranked player, that was almost expected of her. But then something happened a day after that; Monica beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, WTA's 19th ranked player, and it looked like something just clicked inside her and started a fire. And then something BIG happened, she defeated the 4th ranked tennis player in the world, Venezuelan born Garbiñe Muguruza; who plays for Spain, the first country to COLONIZE Puerto Rico.
Then she blew by Laura Siegemund (number 34 in the world) 6-1, 6-1. It didn't even look fair.
Believe.
At this point, nobody (except maybe Monica Puig herself), believed she would get this far into the Olympic bracket. Certainly for her next match, she wouldn't stand a chance. Or so we thought. It was the semifinals and she was up against Petra Kvitova, the WTA's 14th ranked player and 2014 Wimbledon Champion. But little Monica (she stands at only 5'6") won yet again; securing a Silver Medal and advancing to the Olympic Finals in the process. That's it, we thought. She did it. She went far. She got Puerto Rico's first Silver medal by a female athlete in their history. Monica had other plans. She wanted Gold.
What Drives You?
"Puerto Rico is going through some tough times." She said. "They want this. They NEED this."
But Puerto Rico was already happy with what Monica had accomplished until then. So we didn't really believe that she could complete the Cinderella story unravelling before our very eyes. Shame on us. But why not believe? Well, let me put it this way: She was going up against a MONSTER player. Angelique Kerber is the WTA's #2 ranked player in the world and (many say) ready to take the top rank from tennis goddess Serena Williams.
This is the link to the WTA's head-to-head analysis:
http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/5801913/title/10-things-to-know-kerber-vs-puig
History was made.
In another breathtaking performance, Monica Puig defeated world #2 player Angelique Kerber to win Puerto Rico's first ever Olympic Gold medal. The Cinderella story is complete. The little princess from the tiny island of Puerto Rico is now the Olympic Gold Medalist and Queen of the female tennis world. At least for today.
