Tennis at the Summer Olympics explained

Code:	TEN
Sport:	tennis
Menevents:	2
Womenevents:	2
Mixedevents:	1

Tennis was part of the Summer Olympic Games program from the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics, but was dropped after the 1924 Summer Olympics due to disputes between the International Lawn Tennis Federation and the International Olympic Committee over how to define amateur players.^{[1] [2]} After two appearances as a demonstration sport in 1968 and 1984 (with a U-21 age limit),^[3] it returned as a full medal sport at the 1988 Summer Olympics open for all players regardless of their age and status and has been played at every summer Games since then.^[4]

Medals

In 1896, 1900, 1904, 1988, 1992, semifinal losers shared bronze medals. In all other years, a playoff match for the bronze medal was staged. The Olympic tournaments have increased in perceived importance since their reintroduction, with some players, critics and sports pundits considering winning gold at the Olympics just as prestigious as winning a major title and some considering it even more prestigious.^{[5] [6]}

Gold medal records

Serena Williams and Venus Williams have each won a record four gold medals, three each as a doubles pairing, the only players to win the same Olympic event on three occasions. Venus Williams (four gold, one silver) and Kathleen McKane Godfree (one gold, two silvers, and two bronzes) are the all-time record holders for the most Olympic tennis medals, with five each. Andy Murray is the only player to have won two singles gold medals, and the only singles player to have retained the Olympic title. Nicolás Massú, Venus Williams, and Serena Williams are the only players in the Open Era to win both the singles and same-sex doubles tournaments at one Games, doing so in 2004, 2000, and 2012 respectively.

Golden Slams

A player who wins an Olympic or Paralympic gold medal and all four majors in the same year is said to have won a Golden Slam, while a player that has won all four Grand Slam titles and Olympic gold during their career has a 'career Golden Slam'. As of 2021, Steffi Graf and Dylan Alcott are the only players to have won a single-year Golden Slam, in 1988. Gigi Fernandez, Serena Williams and Venus Williams are the only players to complete career Golden Slam in doubles twice. In men's tennis, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic each won career Golden Slams. Multiple doubles players have achieved the feat, with Serena Williams the only player to complete the career Grand Slam in both singles and doubles.^[7] In 2021, wheelchair tennis players Diede de Groot and Dylan Alcott achieved the equivalent wheelchair tennis prize with Paralympic gold.^[8]

Tiebreaker games

Since 2021, the deciding set (third) has a 7-point tiebreaker game to decide the match at 6-all. Should the tiebreaker game be tied at 6-all, whoever scores two straight points wins it.

Summary

width=50	Year	width=50	Events	width=150	Best Nation
	2	(1)
	4	(2)
	2	(1)
	6	(3)
	8	(1)
	5	(4)
	5	(2)
	10	(1)
	2	(1)
	4	(3)
	4	(4)
	4	(5)
	4	(6)
	4	(1)
	4	(1)
	5	(7)
	5	(8)
	5	(1)
	5	(1)

Surface

The playing surface of the court varies between Olympic Games. It has been on hard court for every Olympiad since 1984 except for the 1992 Olympics (which was on a clay court), the 2012 Olympics (which was played on a grass court) and the 2024 Olympics (which was played on a clay court). The changing playing surface gives certain players different advantages and disadvantages not seen in most other Olympic sports.

Events

(d) = demonstration event, (e) = exhibition event

Event								28–64		72–80												Editions
Men's singles							X		(d, e)		(d)										X	17
Men's doubles							X		(d, e)												X	17
Women's singles							X		(d, e)		(d)										X	15
Women's doubles							X		(d, e)												X	13
Mixed doubles							X		(d, e)											X	8
Men's singles (indoor)					X	2
Men's doubles (indoor)					X	2
Women's singles (indoor)				X	X	2
Mixed doubles (indoor)					X	1
Total	2	4	2	6	8	5	5	—	0	—	0	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	17

Surface								28–64		72–80												Years
Indoor				X	X																	2
Outdoor	X	X	X	X	X	X	X		X		X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	10
Carpet																						0
Clay	X	X	X		X		X		X				X								X	8
Grass				X		X												X				3
Hard											X	X		X	X	X	X		X	X		8
Wood				X	X																	2

Champions and venues

List of gold medalists and venues where the Games took place listed below.

Amateur Era (1896–1924)

Year and city	Venue	Surface	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles	Mixed doubles
1896 Athens	Athens Lawn Tennis Club	Clay	John Boland	Not held	John Boland Friedrich Traun	Not held	Not held
1900 Paris	Cercle des Sports, Île de Puteaux	Clay	Laurence Doherty	Charlotte Cooper	Laurence Doherty Reginald Doherty		Charlotte Cooper Reginald Doherty
1904 St. Louis	Francis Field	Clay	Beals Wright	Not held	Beals Wright Edgar Leonard		Not held
1908 London	Queen's Club (indoor)	Wood	Arthur Gore	Gwendoline Eastlake-Smith	Herbert Roper Barrett Arthur Gore
	All England Club (outdoor)	Grass	Major Ritchie		Reginald Doherty George Hillyard
1912 Stockholm	Östermalm Tennis Pavilion (indoor)	Wood	André Gobert	Edith Hannam	Maurice Germot André Gobert		Edith Hannam Charles Dixon
	Östermalm Tennis Pavilion (outdoor)	Clay	Charles Winslow	Marguerite Broquedis	Harold Kitson Charles Winslow		Dorothea Köring Heinrich Schomburgk
1920 Antwerp	Beerschot Tennis Club	Grass	Louis Raymond	Suzanne Lenglen	Noel Turnbull Max Woosnam	Kathleen McKane Winifred McNair	Suzanne Lenglen Max Decugis
1924 Paris	Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir	Clay	Vincent Richards	Helen Wills	Francis Hunter Vincent Richards	Hazel Wightman Helen Wills	Hazel Wightman R. Norris Williams

Open Era (1988–present)

Event info	Venue	Surface	Men's singles	Women's singles	Men's doubles	Women's doubles	Mixed doubles
1988 Seoul	Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center	Hard	Miloslav Mečíř	Steffi Graf	Ken Flach Robert Seguso	Pam Shriver Zina Garrison	Not held
1992 Barcelona	Tennis de la Vall d'Hebron	Clay	Marc Rosset	Jennifer Capriati	Boris Becker Michael Stich	Gigi Fernández Mary Joe Fernández
1996 Atlanta	Stone Mountain Tennis Center	Hard	Andre Agassi	Lindsay Davenport	Todd Woodbridge Mark Woodforde	Gigi Fernández Mary Joe Fernández
2000 Sydney	Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre	Hard	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	Venus Williams	Sébastien Lareau Daniel Nestor	Serena Williams Venus Williams
2004 Athens	Athens Olympic Tennis Centre	Hard	Nicolás Massú	Justine Henin-Hardenne	Fernando González Nicolás Massú	Li Ting Sun Tiantian
2008 Beijing	National Tennis Center	Hard	Rafael Nadal	Elena Dementieva	Roger Federer Stanislas Wawrinka	Serena Williams Venus Williams
2012 London	All England Club	Grass	Andy Murray	Serena Williams	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	Serena Williams Venus Williams	Victoria Azarenka Max Mirnyi
2016 Rio de Janeiro	Olympic Tennis Centre	Hard	Andy Murray	Monica Puig	Marc López Rafael Nadal	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	Bethanie Mattek-Sands Jack Sock
2020 Tokyo	Ariake Tennis Park	Hard	Alexander Zverev	Belinda Bencic	Nikola Mektić Mate Pavić	Barbora Krejčíková Kateřina Siniaková	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Andrey Rublev
2024 Paris	Stade Roland Garros	Clay	Novak Djokovic	Zheng Qinwen	Matthew Ebden John Peers	Sara Errani Jasmine Paolini	Kateřina Siniaková Tomáš Macháč
2028 Los Angeles	Dignity Health Sports Park	Hard
2032 Brisbane	Queensland Tennis Centre	Hard

Participating nations

Nation								28–64		72–80											Editions
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	1	–	–	–	1	–	–	–	–	2
	–	–	–	–	–	–	5		–			1	5	6	8	8	9	6	7	6	7	11
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	1	1	1	–	–	–	–	3
	–	–	–	–	1	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1
	1	2	–	–	–	1	2		–			3	6	7	7	10	7	8	6	10	10	14
	–	–	–	3	3	–	–		–			2	3	5	1	3	1	3	3	2	2	12
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	2	2	2	2	2	–	–	–	5
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–	1
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	2	4	2	5	3	2	3	7
	–	–	–	–	–	16	8		–			–	–	1	3	3	3	2	5	3	4	10
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	1	–	–	–	–	–	1
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1
	–	1	–	4	8	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	3
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	1	–	–	–	–	1	2
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	–	1	–	–	2	–	2
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		1			1	3	4	3	4	3	4	4	7	7	11
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	2	3	2	–	1	1	2	2	–	7
	–	–	–	3	–	–	–		–			2	7	5	6	4	2	3	5	4	4	11
	–	–	–	–	–	–	2		–			–	–	1	2	2	2	2	–	2	1	8
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			1	2	5	4	3	4	8	4	5	5	10
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			1	–	–	3	2	1	3	3	5	5	8
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	2	2	–	4	3	4	5
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	1	–	–	–	–	–	1
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	1	–	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	2
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	2	4	5	5	1	2	4	6	8
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	–	1	–	1	–	–	2
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	4	7	8	11	8	7	6	7
	–	–	–	–	–	7	5		–			–	5	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	4
	–	–	–	–	10	3	5		2			1	3	2	2	1	–	1	1	1	–	12
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	1	–	–	–	–	1	–	2
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		4			–	–	–	3	–	–	1	–	–	–	3
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2	1
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–	–	–	1
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	–	2	2	–	–	1	3
	–	–	–	–	–	–	4		–			1	–	–	–	–	1	1	1	–	–	5
	1	14	–	1	6	10	10		2			4	5	7	4	7	9	8	7	9	10	17
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2	1	1	3
	1	–	1	5	7	–	–		–			–	–	6	3	5	4	2	7	8	9	12
	2	6	–	22	11	8	10		–			3	5	6	5	6	1	2	8	7	6	16
	7	–	–	–	–	1	3		–			2	3	4	2	1	4	2	–	–	2	11
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			1	1	–	1	1	–	–	–	–	–	4
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1
	1	–	–	3	6	–	5		–			–	2	1	5	5	4	2	2	2	–	12
	–	–	–	–	–	–	6		–			1	3	2	2	4	2	4	7	4	3	11
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			1	3	5	2	2	2	–	–	–	–	6
	–	–	–	–	–	–	4		–			–	2	2	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	4
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			1	4	1	–	–	3	4	3	1	–	7
	–	–	–	–	–	4	8		3			4	5	8	8	6	6	8	7	7	6	13
	–	–	–	–	–	2	4		2			2	4	5	7	5	4	3	3	6	11	13
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	3	2	7	3
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	2	–	–	–	1	–	1	2	4
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	1	–	2
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–	1
	–	–	–	–	–	–	1		–			–	–	–	1	1	2	–	1	1	–	6
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	2	2	–	1	–	–	–	–	3
	–	–	–	–	–	–	2		6			1	5	4	3	2	–	–	–	2	2	9
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–	1
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–	1
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			1	–	2	1	1	2	–	–	–	–	5
	–	–	–	2	1	–	5		–			1	1	5	5	3	–	–	2	3	4	11
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	3	–	1	–	–	1	1	2	2	6
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			1	3	–	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	3
	–	–	–	–	7	3	4		–			–	–	2	1	1	–	–	–	–	–	6
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–			–	2	2	–	1	–	–	1	1	1	6
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		3	–	2	–	–	1	–	–	–	1	4
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	1	3	2	–	2	6	7	7	6	8
	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–		–	–	2	2	2	–	–	–	2	2	6
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	3	1	–	2	–	–	1	–	–	1	–	5
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	8	1
	–	–	–	–	–	–	3	–		–	–	5	4	3	2	2	5	6	3	9
	–	–	–	–	2	–	–	–		–	–	–	4	5	9	9	10	8	–	7
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	–	–	1	–	–	–	–	1
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	–	–	–	4	6	6	5	4
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	5	5	7	4	4	3	3	7
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	4	–	3	4	–	4	1	–	5
	–	–	–	3	3	5	4	–		–	–	6	6	5	–	2	–	–	–	8
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	4		–	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		1	5	4	5	4	2	1	–	–	1	8
	–	–	–	–	–	4	8	3		2	4	6	7	7	11	9	12	9	8	13
	–	–	–	4	16	8	4	1		2	3	6	4	5	4	5	3	1	1	15
	–	–	–	–	–	3	4	–		2	2	4	3	3	4	5	2	2	2	12
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	2	2	3	2	1	–	2	–	6
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–	–	–	1
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	1	–	–	1	2	2	1	5
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–	1
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	–	2	2	4	2	6	4	6
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1
	–	5	35	–	1	–	9	6		7	7	7	7	10	10	10	12	11	11	15
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	1	–	–	–	–	1	1	3
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	2	1	–	1	1	1	–	5
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		–	–	–	3	4	1	1	–	–	–	4
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	4		3	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	3
	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–		2	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	3
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		1	3	2	2	3	3	1	–	–	–	7
Nations total	6	4	2	10	14	14	27	-	15	-		34	38	48	55	52	52	48	44	56	45	—
Players total	13	26	36	50	82	75	124	-	45	-		64	129	177	176	182	170	169	184	199	191	—

Medal tables

All-time

Sources:^[9]

Multiple medal winners (1896–present)

Total	Name	Gold	Silver	Bronze
5		4	1	0
4		4	0	0
4		3	0	1
3		2	1	0
3		2	1	0
3		2	0	1
3		2	0	1
3		2	0	1
3		2	0	1
2		2	0	0
2		2	0	0
2		2	0	0
2		2	0	0
2		2	0	0
2		2	0	0
2		2	0	0
2		2	0	0
2		2	0	0
2		2	0	0
2		2	0	0
2		2	0	0
5		1	2	2
4		1	1	2
3		1	1	1
3		1	1	1
3		1	1	1
3		1	1	1
2		1	1	0
2		1	1	0
2		1	1	0
2		1	1	0
2		1	1	0
2		1	1	0
2		1	1	0
2		1	1	0
2		1	1	0
2		1	1	0
3		1	0	2
2		1	0	1
2		1	0	1
2		1	0	1
2		1	0	1
2		1	0	1
2		1	0	1
2		1	0	1
2		1	0	1
2		1	0	1
2		1	0	1
4		0	2	2
3		0	2	1
3		0	2	1
3		0	2	1
2		0	2	0
2		0	2	0
2		0	2	0
2		0	2	0
2		0	2	0
2		0	2	0
2		0	2	0
2		0	2	0
2		0	2	0
2		0	2	0
2		0	1	1
2		0	1	1
2		0	1	1
2		0	1	1
2		0	0	2
2		0	0	2
2		0	0	2
2		0	0	2
2		0	0	2
2		0	0	2

Double crown

Players who won two events at the same Games listed below.

Year	Men's singles &<br>men's doubles
1896	John Boland
1900	Laurence Doherty
1904	Beals Wright
1908	Arthur Gore
1912	Charles Winslow
2004	Nicolás Massú

Year	Women's singles &<br>women's doubles
1924	Helen Wills
2000	Venus Williams
2012	Serena Williams

Year	Women's singles &<br>mixed doubles
1900	Charlotte Cooper
1912	Edith Hannam
1920	Suzanne Lenglen

Point distribution

From the 2004 until the 2012 Summer Olympics, the ATP and the WTA Tours awarded ranking points, for singles players only, who competed at the Summer Olympics. This was discontinued beginning with the 2016 Summer Olympics.^{[10] [11]}

2012

See also

• List of Olympic venues in tennis
• Tennis at the Youth Olympic Games
• Tennis at the Mediterranean Games
• Tennis at the Pan American Games
• List of Olympic medalists in tennis
• Wheelchair tennis at the Summer Paralympics

External links

• Olympic Tennis Event website – International Tennis Federation (archived 15 July 2012)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Soltis, Greg . July 27, 2012 . Olympic Events Through History . . 2012-08-01.
2. News: Williams, Wythe . July 27, 1928 . SOCCER AND TENNIS BARRED IN OLYMPICS . . 2012-08-01.
3. Web site: Olympic Tennis Event – History: Overview . . 2012-08-01.
4. Web site: 2 More Olympic Games . . October 2, 1981 . 2012-08-01.
5. News: Olympics or Slams – What's More Important For Tennis Players? . Let, Second Serve. July 12, 2012. April 5, 2015.
6. News: How Important Is an Olympic Gold Medal in Tennis?. Paul Fein. World Tennis Magazine. September 20, 2012. October 29, 2013.
7. News: Tignor. Steve. 1988: Steffi Graf wins the Golden Slam. 17 September 2017. Tennis.com. 30 July 2015.
8. News: Dylan Alcott achieves history-making 'golden slam' with US Open final victory . 28 September 2021. The Guardian. 13 September 2021.
9. Web site: Olympic Analytics - Medals by Countries . live . https://archive.today/20240605001141/http://olympanalyt.com/OlympAnalytics.php?param_pagetype=MedalsByCountries&param_dbversion=&param_country=&param_games=ALL&param_sport=Tennis . 5 June 2024 . 5 June 2024 . olympanalyt.com.
10. Web site: ITF and ATP announce Olympic agreement. 1 February 2015. itftennis.com.
11. Web site: Ranking Points. 16 September 2014. itftennis.com.