ACOG - News - IBM

(19 July 1996)

AGASSI, SELES Top Singles Draws

The International Tennis Federation has named Americans Andre AGASSI and Monica SELES as the No. 1 singles seeds for the Olympic tennis competition, which begins Tuesday at the Stone Mountain Tennis Center in Atlanta. Top-seeded in doubles are the world's No. 1-ranked men's team of Todd WOODBRIDGE and Mark WOODFORDE (AUS) and the women's defending gold medalists, the USA's Gigi and Mary Joe FERNANDEZ (no relation).

SELES -- co-ranked No. 1 in the world in singles with Germany's Steffi GRAF -- and faces CHEN Li of the People's Republic of China in Tuesday's opening round. AGASSI -- currently the world's No. 3-ranked singles player -- will meet Sweden's Jonas BJORKMAN in the first round, whom he defeated at the Austrailian open earlier this year.

"The last time we met, it was a tough five sets," AGASSI said of BJORKMAN during Team USA's Friday practice session at Stone Mountain. "He is a talented and aggressive player, and I am going to have to be strong, move and return well right from the start."

SELES meanwhile stands as the only top-rated singles player in the Olympic Games, as both GRAF and top-ranked Pete SAMPRAS of the USA withdrew from Olympic competition on Monday with injuries. SAMPRAS' singles spot was filled late Thursday evening by his teammate, Richey RENEBERG (USA), who was originally slated to play doubles only.

The 1996 Olympic tennis competition is the first ITA event ever to be drawn by computer, a time-saving change that came about after the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.

"These are the 'high-tech' Games and we were happy to debut our new 'high-tech' system here in Atlanta," Olympic referee Ken FARRAR said. "In Barcelona, it took nearly three hours to create a draw that made certain no players from the same country were placed in the same half. The computer takes all of those guidelines into consideration for us and will prove to be a much faster system."

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Melissa Horton



Olympic Factoid
Pin trading was one of the most popular Olympic sports, with more than 1.2 million pins changing hands during the Games in the Coca Cola Pin Trading Center at Centennial Olympic Park.