Puig relives her unforgettable gold-medal performance from Rio Olympics

Sitting on the floor of her bedroom closet, surrounded by clothes destined for the suitcase, Monica Puig sometimes reaches for the box. Her fingers close on the lime-green ribbon, she sees the flash of gold and takes in a short breath -- it never fails to astonish her.

“It still doesn’t seem real,” Puig said of the tennis medal she won at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. “I’ll pull it out and see it and reminisce on the good times. Because it was truly amazing.”

But for Puig’s relationship with the Olympic Games … well, it’s complicated.

Her only previous title on the Hologic WTA Tour came two years earlier in Strasbourg. No one expected much from Puig in Rio de Janeiro, who represented Puerto Rico.

And yet, she rolled through the early rounds, beating Polona Hercog, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Garbiñe Muguruza and Laura Siegemund all in straight sets -- dropping only 14 games in four matches.

Puig prevailed over two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in the semifinals and drew Angelique Kerber in the gold-medal match. Kerber, who had won the Australian Open earlier that year and was destined to win the US Open one month later, went down 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

After the final point, Puig exclaimed, “Oh, my God.” She sobbed on the medal stand when they played the national anthem. She became the first Puerto Rican to win an Olympic gold medal while representing Puerto Rico and the first unseeded woman to win since tennis was reintroduced in 1988.

That was eight years ago.

“Sometimes when I think back,” Puig said, “it feels like it was just yesterday. Sometimes it feels longer. There’s times when it still hasn’t sunk in because the moment was so surreal. It kind of came out of nowhere.

“When people ask if you could have a Grand Slam or an Olympic medal, I would always choose the Olympic medal. What it meant for my country and what it means to me. There’s four Grand Slams a year, and there’s one Olympics every four years. You have something that’s very rare.”

But there was a quick letdown soon afterward. Almost immediately, Puig felt burdened by the audacity of the accomplishment, the high degree of difficulty required. She lost to Zheng Saisai in the first round of the US Open.

“It was kind of like, `I got it. It clicked. I’m going to start winning, and it’s going to be great,’” Puig said. “Suddenly you have a target on your back because people are trying to beat the current Olympic champion. 

“I tied my self-worth to my wins and losses. And I struggled really, really hard with my mental health.”

When injuries and the inevitable surgeries became too much -- the ulnar nerve in her right elbow, the rotator cuff in her right shoulder and a torn right biceps muscle -- Puig retired two years ago. She had played three matches in the previous three years.

“At the end of the day, I have to think I did something that will remain with me for the rest of my life,” she said, “and that’s something nobody can take away from me.”

Wanting something big

It wouldn’t surprise Puig if World No.1 Iga Swiatek wins gold -- the same venue sat which she’s already won four French Open titles.

“She’s closing in,” Puig said. “I feel her mental maturity over the past couple of years has made her a much stronger contender. She’s more aware of what she brings to the table, of what can go wrong in her game at times.

“The Olympics are a very big, energy-sucking event. You’re living in this constant euphoria of so many athletes and so many events. You have to really pick and choose your schedule this summer. It’s loaded for the teams and the players.

In the flow of her life, Rio de Janeiro doesn’t come up every day. But when Puig is in a tennis environment, it does. She said she understands that when the day comes, the gold medal likely will be in the first sentence of her obituary. 

“Yeah,” she said, smiling. “It’s still kind of hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that my name is in the history books. I always said to myself that I want to retire from tennis with something to show for it. I wanted something big.”

Puig is one of nine female gold medalists since the sport returned in 1988. Steffi Graf, the Williams sisters and Justine Henin headline the celebrated list. Puig is one of only three who didn’t win a Grand Slam singles title, joining Elena Dementieva (Beijing, 2008) and Belinda Bencic (Tokyo 2020).

With remodeling underway at home, Puig’s medal is still in that dusty box in the closet. For a while, it looked like it was never leaving the Miami home of her parents, Astrid and Jose.

“So, when we get married, does that mean that we get the medal?” Nathan asked his then-fiancee.

Puig nodded and said yes.

“When they were moving, we had to go through their storage,” Puig said. “It was actually with a lot of other really important trophies that I had. Once we found it, it was like, `OK, that is coming home and we’re not going to talk about this ever again.’ ”