Venus and Daniell win Bronze in the men's Doubles in Tokyo

Michael Venus and Marcus Daniell have won New Zealand’s first Olympic medal in tennis since Anthony Wilding in 1912 in Stockholm. The New Zealand combination have won Bronze in the men’s doubles in Tokyo after a 7-6 (3) 6-2 win over American’s Tennys Sandgren and Austin Krajicek.

It was a huge step up in performance from their semi final loss 24 hours earlier. They won a tight first set in 59 minutes with Venus and Daniell largely untroubled on serve, but able to put pressure on their opponents in most service games. Krajicek found himself 15-40 down at 5-5 but recovered to hold and the first set went to a tie break. Daniell and Venus who had a healthy 74 percent first serve percentage in the first set played an inspired tiebreak to rattle the Americans, clinching the set in 59 minutes.

Buoyed by winning the opening set Venus held comfortably to start the second before a visibly frustrated Sandgren was broken in the next game. Daniell had to dig deep saving an immediate break back point but held for 3-0.  Krajicek then faced two break points in the next game but managed to hold a lengthy service game to get on the board in the second set.

The pressure was back on Venus who was forced to save two break point, one of which a clutch volley from Daniell that was as good as you will see. At 4-1 the New Zealanders were able to pile the pressure on Sandgren who served a double fault to bring up two break points at 15-40, But Sandgren was able to keep the Americans in it with some big serving to hold. Daniell held again for 5-2 and Krajicek crumbled serving for the match with some sensational returning from Venus and Daniell securing the win in 1 hour 48 minutes.

Daniell told Sky Sport "I think I am still in shock, I have been crying for the last 20 minutes and Mike has been laughing at me. But it’s absolutely incredible, to bring a medal back for New Zealand in tennis, we are both incredibly proud Kiwis. When we know we have our friends and families watching at home is just an unbelievable moment and thankyou everyone who has made it possible."

Venus was equally overjoyed on Sky Sport. " It’s unbelievable, watching the Olympics as a kid, seeing all the great athletes from New Zealand partake and win medals, to be part of a team here and get to see the other athletes and hear their stories, it’s been a great atmosphere and to walk away with a medal. There have been so many people who have helped us a long the way, individually to get where we are over the years.” Venus said.

Daniell told Sky Sport they were determined to bounce back from their semi final loss.

‘Yesterday it was disappointing, we didn’t get a foot in the door, but we went out on court after the match and practiced what we could have done better. We got a bit more clarity coming out here today and we knuckled down on what we thought would bring us cheap points and it worked today, so that was an amazing response to a disappointing match yesterday."