ESPN Tennis

NEW YORK -- Fernando Gonzalez had a choice: Be well rested for the U.S. Open, or go for Olympic glory.

It was an easy choice for him. He decided to represent Chile in the Olympics, and he got the glory too. However, he may have paid a price at the Open.

Gonzalez, the 14th seed, was upset by Sweden's Robin Soderling 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (4), 6-1 in the first round of the men's singles draw at the Open on Wednesday.

Gonzalez, along with fellow Chilean Nicolas Massu, had a whirlwind two weeks in Athens. Gonzalez beat American Taylor Dent in an epic match to win the bronze medal in singles, and then teamed with Massu to win the doubles gold. Massu did even better, winning the singles title as well.

While Massu easily won his first-round singles match Tuesday, Gonzalez struggled against Soderling.

It was a disappointing loss for Gonzalez, who certainly had hoped to do better than this at the Open. He is ranked 16th in the world, and reached the Open quarterfinals two years ago and the third round last year. He beat Andy Roddick during his Olympic singles run.

If Gonzalez had to do it all over again, he would still travel to Greece. "You have to play for your country," he said Wednesday after exiting the singles draw.

He also refused to admit that he was tired after losing to Soderling, despite the fact that he played 11 grueling matches in eight days under the sizzling Athens sun. Included among those 11 was the win over Dent, which featured a 30-game decisive set. Ironically the top players in the world -- Roger Federer and Roddick -- may have benefited from losing in the early rounds in Athens.

"Sometimes during the match, I didn't feel 100 percent," Gonzalez said of Wednesday's loss. "I was physically good but today wasn't my good day. When you lose, you try to find some excuses. Robin was playing really good.''

"Maybe he was not physically tired, but for sure he was mentally tired," Soderling said. "He felt the pressure a little bit."

Gonzalez isn't done at the Open, however. He and Massu won their opening-round doubles match Wednesday night against Germany's Karsten Braasch and Armenia's Sargis Sargsian in two sets.

David Boroff is an editor at ESPN.com.