ACOG - Tennis - IBM

Olympic Tennis Overview

The hush of the crowd. A toss. And then the pop of a ball against the sweet spot. Players' harnessed energy and intense concentration rivet spectators who know they're seeing history made as countries go head-to-head on the tennis court at the Centennial Olympic Games.

As tennis continues to recover from its 64-year absence from the Olympic Programme due to a rift over the definition of amateurism, players, too, are beginning to see the Games' value. It may not be a Grand Slam, but there's nothing like a little international recognition. For many athletes, Olympic competition is the pinnacle of their career, but with a pro tennis circuit to compete with, players in the past have seen the Games as pro bono work for their countries.

The summer of 1996 sets a tough pace for the tennis elite. With the Olympic Games following on the heels of Wimbledon, many tennis athletes will arrive just in time for competition, and some favorites will pull out, afraid to risk injury under such a grueling schedule. For the hearty, the hard court surface that awaits '96 competitors promises to whip them into shape for the U.S. Open in August, an added benefit.

Ninety-six men and 96 women will face each other in women's singles and doubles, and men's singles and doubles. A country may enter only one pair in each of the doubles events, and three players in each singles event, though the total number of players per country cannot exceed four men and four women. Athletes must represent their country for two years between 1993 and 1996 in the Davis Cup (men) or Federation Cup (women) to qualify for the Games. Countries like the United States - with athletes like Andre AGASSI, Pete SAMPRAS, Monica SELES and 1992 Olympic gold-medal winners Gigi and Mary Joe FERNANDEZ - have trouble paring their top players down to the maximum eight.

Two semifinal matches determine who plays for medals: winners play for gold, losers for bronze. All matches will be three-set matches, except for men's singles and doubles finals, which will go for five-sets.

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publication Department. Written by Jennifer Knight.


Olympic Factoid
More tickets were sold to the competitions of the 1996 Games than to any other Olympic Games or sports event in history. The 8.6 million ticket sales figures topped sales to the Los Angeles and Barcelona Games combined.