Full-time tennis professionals have been allowed to compete on the Olympics since 1988. Since then, a few of the sport’s best-known gamers have gone for gold on the Olympic stage.
This is a have a look at how a few of tennis’ greatest stars have fared on the Summer time Video games.
Males’s
Andre Agassi: A former world No. 1 participant, Agassi was the primary man to finish the profession Golden Slam (win all 4 Slam tournaments and an Olympic gold medal). The Las Vegas native achieved the feat by successful gold for the USA in males’s singles on the 1996 Atlanta Summer time Olympics.
Novak Djokovic: The Serbian celebrity has achieved nearly every little thing in tennis, however he is nonetheless lacking an Olympic gold medal. Of all the boys’s and girls’s tennis gamers within the Open period (since 1968) who’ve gained not less than 20 Grand Slam titles, Djokovic is the one one by no means to win gold on the Olympics in both singles or doubles. Djokovic gained bronze in males’s singles on the 2008 Beijing Summer time Video games.
Roger Federer: Federer spent 237 consecutive weeks at No. 1, by far the longest streak on the high of the ATP rankings. However he has by no means occupied the highest spot on the Olympic podium in males’s singles. The Switzerland native gained silver in males’s singles on the 2012 London Olympics and gold in males’s doubles with Stan Wawrinka on the 2008 Beijing Video games.
Rafael Nadal: The Spaniard has a number of notches on his belt of profession accomplishments, together with two Olympic gold medals. Nadal gained gold in males’s singles on the 2008 Beijing Summer time Olympics and gold in males’s doubles with Marc Lopez on the 2016 Rio Video games.
Pete Sampras: Whereas Sampras has 14 profession main singles championships, he by no means gained the French Open. The clay floor at Roland Garros was Sampras’ Kryptonite. The Washington, D.C., native made his solely look on the Olympics in 1992 and did not medal. Tennis on the 1992 Barcelona Video games was held on clay.
Girls’s
Chris Evert: Tennis’ “Ice Maiden” gained 18 profession main singles championships, together with a document seven French Open titles. However capturing Olympic gold was about the one profession accomplishment that evaded the Florida native. Evert represented the USA on the 1988 Seoul Summer time Video games however did not medal.
Steffi Graf: Whereas Agassi was the primary man to finish the profession Golden Slam, his spouse, Graf, is the one participant, man or girl, to attain it in a single yr. Graf gained the gold medal in ladies’s singles whereas representing her native West Germany on the 1988 Seoul Olympics, capping some of the dominant years in sports activities historical past.
Martina Navratilova: The Czech-American gained 18 main singles championships, 31 main doubles championships and 10 main combined doubles championships, for a mixed profession rely of 59 main titles. That is essentially the most within the Open period. However Navratilova by no means gained Olympic gold. She together with Lisa Raymond represented the USA in ladies’s doubles on the 2004 Athens Olympics, however they did not medal.
Naomi Osaka: Born in Japan, Osaka is the primary Asian participant to carry the world No. 1 rating in singles. However the four-time Grand Slam singles champion has but to win an Olympic medal. Osaka, representing Japan in ladies’s singles, superior to the third spherical on the 2020 Tokyo Summer time Video games earlier than dropping to eventual silver medalist Marketa Vondrousova.
Serena Williams: The four-time Olympic gold medalist has gained extra Grand Slam titles (23) than another girl within the Open period. Williams can also be the one participant to attain a profession Golden Slam in each singles and doubles play. Williams gained gold in ladies’s singles and girls’s doubles on the 2012 London Olympics. She and older sister Venus have gained a complete of three ladies’s doubles Olympic gold medals (2000, ’08 and ’12).
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