ACOG - Tennis - IBM

Thumbnail Detailed Information
  • Olympic Tennis Overview
  • Spectator's Guide to Tennis
  • Who to Watch in Tennis
  • History of Tennis
  • Olympic Medals in Tennis
  • Competition Dates
    3 Jul to Aug 1996

    Venue
    Stone Mountain Park
    Capacity: 12,000 at Center Court; 5,000 at Court One; 3,000 at Court Two; 6,500 at the remaining 13 field courts

    Events/Disciplines
    Four Events
    MenWomen
    SinglesSingles
    DoublesDoubles

    Number of Athletes
    96 men, 96 women, 192 total

    Changes Since Barcelona

    Qualifications
    Based on world rankings as of 29 April 1996. USA automatically qualified as host country.

    Competition Format
    Bracketed single-elimination tournament for each event. The semifinal winners play for the gold medal; the losers play for the bronze. Best-of-three sets, except best-of-five in men’s singles and doubles finals.

    International Federation
    International Tennis Federation (ITF)
    Palliser Road, Barons Court
    London W14 9EN, Great Britain
    Tel: (44-171) 381-8060
    Fax: (44-171) 381-3989

    Olympic Debut
    Men: 1896
    Women: 1900

    Olympic History
    Despite making its debut at the first Modern Olympic Games, tennis was dropped as a medal sport in 1928 and did not reappear until 64 years later. Tennis was a demonstration sport in 1968 and 1984 until rejoining the Olympic Programme in 1988. Charlotte COOPER, the women’s tennis singles champion at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, was the first woman to win an Olympic event. Steffi GRAF was the first woman to win both the Grand Slam of tennis and an Olympic gold medal.

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    Olympic Factoid
    The volunteer staff of the 1996 Olympic Games totaled 50,152. They worked an estimated 850,000 shifts.