(22 July 1996; Day 03)
A two-week battle for four gold medals begins 23 July, as Olympic tennis competition gets underway Tuesday at Stone Mountain Park in Atlanta. In addition to a clear-cut, home-court advantage, the American contingent is expected to hold court in three of the four events, as U.S. entries take top seeding in the men's singles, women's singles and men's doubles competitions.
The highest-ranking singles player in the men's competition is top-seeded American Andre AGASSI, who at No. 3 in the world is the favorite for the singles gold medal despite winning only one ATP tournament this season.
"In my opinion, it is the greatest moment in any athlete's life to represent his country," AGASSI said of the Olympic competition. "Just to be a part of this is an experience in itself."
But AGASSI can't count out the "hardcourt press" of second-seeded Goran IVANISEVIC (CRO), who reached the finals of seven tournaments this season, taking home four singles titles before a quarterfinal run at Wimbledon. An AGASSI-IVANISEVIC final would be a rematch of March's Lipton Championships, a hardcourt tournament AGASSI won by default after IVANISEVIC retired with an injury.
Other singles contenders include the third and fourth seeds, Thomas ENQVIST (SWE) and Malvai WASHINGTON (USA), both of whom have claimed singles titles this season. After reaching his first-ever Grand Slam final at Wimbledon earlier this month, WASHINGTON could make a run through bottom-half of the draw, meeting AGASSI in an all-American final. But before that, AGASSI must get through potential semifinal match-ups with ENQVIST and eighth-seeded Marc ROSSET of Sweden, the defending gold medalist from the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
On the women's side, American Monica SELES is highly favored for the gold after co-world No. 1 Steffi GRAF withdrew from competition 15 July with an injury.
"I've been looking forward to this all year and can't wait for competition to begin," SELES said on Thursday. "It's tough to lose the No. 1-ranked player in the draw, but that's life. You just have to look forward to playing without her."
But the Spanish contingent of Conchita MARTINEZ and Arantxa SANCHEZ VICARIO -- seeded No. 2 and 3, respectively -- pose no small threat to SELES' first run at an Olympic medal. SANCHEZ VICARIO in particular has had a strong summer, reaching the singles final at both the French Open and Wimbledon.
The odds-on favorite for the women's doubles gold is the American team of Gigi and Mary Joe FERNANDEZ (no relation) who re-team to defend their 1992 Olympic title. The fourth-seeded Spanish pair of MARTINEZ and SANCHEZ VICARIO are looking to improve upon their silver-medal performance in Barcelona, and should gun for the second-seeded team of Jana NOVOTNA and Helena SUKOVA (CZE) in the semifinals before a potential rematch with the Americans in the doubles final.
Heavily favored for the men's doubles gold is the Australian team of Todd WOODBRIDGE and Mark WOODFORDE, the world's top-rated tandem and individually, the ATP's No. 1 and 2 doubles players. Teaming up for Canada are second-seeded Grant CONNELL and Daniel NESTOR, who also rank among the ATP's top five doubles specialists.
This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Melissa Horton.
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| 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. |