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’ largest stars have fared on the Summer season 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 season Olympics.
Novak Djokovic: The Serbian celebrity has achieved nearly all the things in tennis, however he is nonetheless lacking an Olympic gold medal. Of all the lads’s and girls’s tennis gamers within the Open period (since 1968) who’ve received no 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 received bronze in males’s singles on the 2008 Beijing Summer season 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 received 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 received gold in males’s singles on the 2008 Beijing Summer season 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 received 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 didn’t medal. Tennis on the 1992 Barcelona Video games was held on clay.
Editor’s Picks
2 Associated
Ladies’s
Chris Evert: Tennis’ “Ice Maiden” received 18 profession main singles championships, together with a file 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 season Video games however didn’t 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 12 months. Graf received the gold medal in ladies’s singles whereas representing her native West Germany on the 1988 Seoul Olympics, capping probably the most dominant years in sports activities historical past.
Martina Navratilova: The Czech-American received 18 main singles championships, 31 main doubles championships and 10 main blended 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 received Olympic gold. She together with Lisa Raymond represented the USA in ladies’s doubles on the 2004 Athens Olympics, however they didn’t 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 season Video games earlier than shedding to eventual silver medalist Marketa Vondrousova.
Serena Williams: The four-time Olympic gold medalist has received 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 received gold in ladies’s singles and girls’s doubles on the 2012 London Olympics. She and older sister Venus have received a complete of three ladies’s doubles Olympic gold medals (2000, ’08 and ’12).
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