Tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics

The tennis tournament at the 2016 Summer Olympics was held at the Olympic Tennis Centre, from 6 to 14 August.[2] The competition was played on a fast hardcourt surface used in numerous North American tournaments that aims to minimize disruption for players.[3]

Tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Date6–14 August
Edition17th
SurfaceHard (GreenSet Cushion)[1]
LocationOlympic Tennis Centre
Champions
Men's Singles
 Andy Murray (GBR)
Women's Singles
 Monica Puig (PUR)
Men's Doubles
 Marc López & Rafael Nadal (ESP)
Women's Doubles
 Ekaterina Makarova & Elena Vesnina (RUS)
Mixed Doubles
 Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Jack Sock (USA)
Olympic Tennis Centre, in Barra Olympic Park

Initially a total of 172 players were expected to compete in five events: singles and doubles for both men and women and the return of the mixed doubles for the second consecutive time. However, eventually 105 male and 94 female players were granted places in the draws. The Olympic tennis events were run and organized by the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) and the International Tennis Federation (ITF), and were part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tours.

The 2016 Olympic tournament was the fifteenth edition of tennis at the Olympics (excluding the two Olympics, 1968 and 1984, when tennis was a demonstration event), and the eighth since 1988, when the sport was officially brought back into the Games. Unlike previous editions of the Olympic event, it was decided that the Olympic tournaments would not offer ATP and WTA ranking points for the players.

Summary

Serena Williams was the defending champion in the women's singles, but she lost to Elina Svitolina in the third round.[4] Unseeded Puerto Rican Monica Puig won the gold medal, defeating Germany's world number two Angelique Kerber in the final, 6–4, 4–6, 6–1.[5] This marked Puerto Rico's first ever Olympic gold medal and made Puig her country's first ever female medalist.

In the men's singles, British flagbearer Andy Murray was the defending champion from the London tournament at Wimbledon, while Novak Djokovic was the number one seed and aiming to complete the Career Golden Slam. However, he was defeated in the first round by Argentina's Juan Martín del Potro.[6] Murray defended his title, defeating del Potro in the final, 7–5, 4–6, 6–2, 7–5.[7] With the victory, Murray became the first player, male or female, to win singles gold at two consecutive Olympics and the first player to defend an Olympic title since Serena and Venus Willams won the women's doubles title in Beijing and London. This, combined with a second Wimbledon title, becoming the first-ever three-time BBC Sports Personality of the Year and ending the year as the #1-ranked player by the ATP after having led Great Britain to their first Davis Cup since 1936 in 2015, contributed to his being knighted in the New Year's Honours List.[8]

Serena and Venus Williams were the two-time defending champions and number one seeds in the women's doubles, but they lost in the first round to Czech pairing Lucie Šafářová and Barbora Strýcová. The defeat ended the sisters' 15 match winning streak in women's doubles at the Olympics, and also marked their first loss together in Olympic competition.[9] Russian duo Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina won the gold medal, defeating Timea Bacsinszky and Martina Hingis in the final, 6–4, 6–4.[10] Martina Hingis had been attempting to become just the fifth woman to complete the Career Golden Slam in doubles.

In the men's doubles, Bob and Mike Bryan were the defending champions, but they withdrew before the competition as a result of health concerns.[11] French duo Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut were the number one seeds, but lost in the first round to Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah from Colombia. Spaniards Marc López and Rafael Nadal won the gold medal, defeating Romanian duo Florin Mergea and Horia Tecău in the final, 6–2, 3–6, 6–4.[12]

Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi were the defending champions in the mixed doubles tournament, but they were not able to defend their title as a result of Azarenka's withdrawal due to pregnancy.[13] American pair Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock won the gold medal, defeating their compatriots Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram in the final, 6–7(3–7), 6–1, [10–7].

Qualification

For the singles competitions, the top 56 players in the world rankings on 6 June 2016 of the WTA and ATP tours are qualified for the Olympics. However, entry has been limited to four players from a country. This means that players who are ranked in the top 56 but represent the NOCs with four higher-ranked players already participating do not qualify, allowing players who are ranked outside of the top 56 but from countries with fewer than four players already qualified to compete. A player could only participate if he or she has made him- or herself available to be drafted to represent the player's country in Davis Cup or Fed Cup for two of the following years: 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, with one of the years being either 2015 or 2016. Of the remaining eight slots, six of them will be determined by the ITF's Olympic Committee, taking into account ranking and spread of nations represented, while the final two slots are awarded by the IOC to players from small nations.[14][15]

In the doubles competitions, 24 teams are automatically qualified for the Games based on the rankings to be published on 6 June 2016, subject to a maximum of two teams per NOC. Players in the top ten of the doubles rankings could reserve a place, provided they had a partner to compete with. Meanwhile, the remaining eight teams were decided by the ITF Olympic Committee.[14][15]

Competition format

The tennis competition at the Olympic Games consisted of a single elimination tournament. The size of the singles draw, 64, meant that there were six rounds of competition in total, with five in the doubles owing to its smaller draw size of 32, and 4 for mixed with its draw size only being 16. Players reaching the semifinal were assured of an opportunity to compete for a medal, with the two losing semifinalists contesting a bronze medal match.

All matches were the best of three sets, except for the men's singles final which was the best of five sets. The tie break operated in every set, including the final one (a first for the Olympics). In the mixed doubles the third set was played as a match tie-break (10 points).[2]

Schedule

Date 6 August 7 August 8 August 9 August 10 August 11 August 12 August 13 August 14 August
Day Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Start time 11:00 11:00 11:00 11:00 11:00 12:00 12:00 12:00
Men's singles Round of 64 Round of 32 play cancelled
due to rain[16]
Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Bronze/Final
Women's singles Round of 32 Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Bronze/Final
Men's doubles Round of 32 Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Bronze/Final
Women's doubles Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Bronze Final
Mixed doubles Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Bronze/Final

Medal summary

Medal table

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 United States1113
2 Great Britain1001
 Puerto Rico1001
 Russia1001
 Spain1001
6 Argentina0101
 Germany0101
 Romania0101
 Switzerland0101
10 Czech Republic0033
11 Japan0011
Totals (11 nations)55515

Medal events

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's singles
Andy Murray
 Great Britain
Juan Martín del Potro
 Argentina
Kei Nishikori
 Japan
Men's doubles
 Spain (ESP)
Marc López
Rafael Nadal
 Romania (ROU)
Florin Mergea
Horia Tecău
 United States (USA)
Steve Johnson
Jack Sock
Women's singles
Monica Puig
 Puerto Rico
Angelique Kerber
 Germany
Petra Kvitová
 Czech Republic
Women's doubles
 Russia (RUS)
Ekaterina Makarova
Elena Vesnina
 Switzerland (SUI)
Timea Bacsinszky
Martina Hingis
 Czech Republic (CZE)
Lucie Šafářová
Barbora Strýcová
Mixed doubles
 United States (USA)
Bethanie Mattek-Sands
Jack Sock
 United States (USA)
Venus Williams
Rajeev Ram
 Czech Republic (CZE)
Lucie Hradecká
Radek Štěpánek

Singles seeds

Men's singles

Seed Rank Player Status
1 1 Novak Djokovic
 Serbia
First round, lost to Juan Martín del Potro
 Argentina
2 2 Andy Murray
 Great Britain
Won Gold medal match against Juan Martín del Potro
 Argentina
3 5 Rafael Nadal
 Spain
Lost Bronze medal match to Kei Nishikori
 Japan
4 6 Kei Nishikori
 Japan
Won Bronze medal match against Rafael Nadal
 Spain
5 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
 France
Second round, lost to Gilles Müller
 Luxembourg
6 11 Gaël Monfils
 France
Quarterfinal, lost to Kei Nishikori
 Japan
7 12 David Ferrer
 Spain
Second round, lost to Evgeny Donskoy
 Russia
8 13 David Goffin
 Belgium
Third round, lost to Thomaz Bellucci
 Brazil
9 14 Marin Čilić
 Croatia
Third round, lost to Gaël Monfils
 France
10 16 Roberto Bautista Agut
 Spain
Quarterfinal, lost to Juan Martín del Potro
 Argentina
11 21 Pablo Cuevas
 Uruguay
Second round, lost to Thomaz Bellucci
 Brazil
12 22 Steve Johnson
 United States
Quarterfinal, lost to Andy Murray
 Great Britain
13 23 Philipp Kohlschreiber
 Germany
Second round, lost to Andrej Martin
 Slovakia
14 25 Jack Sock
 United States
First round, lost to Taro Daniel
 Japan
15 31 Gilles Simon
 France
Third round, lost to Rafael Nadal
 Spain
16 32 Benoit Paire
 France
Second round, lost to Fabio Fognini
 Italy

The following players received an ITF invitation:

The following players received a Tripartite Commission invitation:

The following players were originally in the entry list and supposed to be seeded but withdrew prior to the event:

Women's singles

Seed Rank Player Status
1 1 Serena Williams
 United States
Third round, lost to Elina Svitolina
 Ukraine
2 2 Angelique Kerber
 Germany
Lost Gold medal match to Monica Puig
 Puerto Rico
3 4 Garbiñe Muguruza
 Spain
Third round, lost to Monica Puig
 Puerto Rico
4 5 Agnieszka Radwańska
 Poland
First round, lost to Zheng Saisai
 China
5 6 Venus Williams
 United States
First round, lost to Kirsten Flipkens
 Belgium
6 8 Roberta Vinci
 Italy
First round, lost to Anna Karolína Schmiedlová
 Slovakia
7 9 Madison Keys
 United States
Lost Bronze medal match to Petra Kvitová
 Czech Republic
8 10 Svetlana Kuznetsova
 Russia
Third round, lost to Johanna Konta
 Great Britain
9 12 Carla Suárez Navarro
 Spain
Third round, lost to Madison Keys
 United States
10 13 Johanna Konta
 Great Britain
Quarterfinal, lost to Angelique Kerber
 Germany
11 14 Petra Kvitová
 Czech Republic
Won Bronze medal match against Madison Keys
 United States
12 15 Timea Bacsinszky
 Switzerland
First round, lost to Zhang Shuai
 China
13 18 Samantha Stosur
 Australia
Third round, lost to Angelique Kerber
 Germany
14 19 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
 Russia
Second round, lost to Monica Puig
 Puerto Rico
15 20 Elina Svitolina
 Ukraine
Quarterfinal, lost to Petra Kvitová
 Czech Republic
16 21 Barbora Strýcová
 Czech Republic
Second round, lost to Sara Errani
 Italy

The following players received an ITF invitation:

The following players received a Tripartite Commission invitation:

The following players were originally in the entry list and supposed to be seeded but withdrew prior to the event:

Doubles seeds

Men's doubles

Seed Rank Team Status
1 3 Pierre-Hugues Herbert & Nicolas Mahut
 France
First round, lost to Juan Sebastian Cabal & Robert Farah
 Colombia
2 6 Andy Murray & Jamie Murray
 Great Britain
First round, lost to Thomaz Bellucci & André Sá
 Brazil
3 11 Marcelo Melo & Bruno Soares
 Brazil
Quarterfinal, lost to Florin Mergea & Horia Tecău
 Romania
4 20 Gael Monfils & Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
 France
First round, lost to Brian Baker & Rajeev Ram
 United States
5 24 Florin Mergea & Horia Tecău
 Romania
Lost Gold medal match to Marc López & Rafael Nadal
 Spain
6 26 Marc López & Rafael Nadal
 Spain
Won Gold medal match against Florin Mergea & Horia Tecău
 Romania
7 27 Daniel Nestor & Vasek Pospisil
 Canada
Lost Bronze medal match to Steve Johnson & Jack Sock
 United States
8 28 Roberto Bautista Agut & David Ferrer
 Spain
Quarterfinal, lost to Steve Johnson & Jack Sock
 United States

The following players received an ITF invitation:

Women's doubles

Seed Rank Team Status
1 7 Serena Williams & Venus Williams
 United States
First round, lost to Lucie Šafářová & Barbora Strýcová
 Czech Republic
2 7 Caroline Garcia & Kristina Mladenovic
 France
First round, lost to Misaki Doi & Eri Hozumi
 Japan
3 12 Chan Yung-jan & Chan Hao-ching
 Chinese Taipei
Quarterfinal, lost to Martina Hingis & Timea Bacsinszky
 Switzerland
4 16 Garbiñe Muguruza & Carla Suárez Navarro
 Spain
Quarterfinal, lost to Elena Vesnina & Ekaterina Makarova
 Russia
5 16 Martina Hingis & Timea Bacsinszky
 Switzerland
Lost Gold medal match to Elena Vesnina & Ekaterina Makarova
 Russia
6 20 Lucie Hradecká & Andrea Hlaváčková
 Czech Republic
Lost Bronze medal match to Lucie Šafářová & Barbora Strýcová
 Czech Republic
7 22 Elena Vesnina & Ekaterina Makarova
 Russia
Won Gold medal match against Martina Hingis & Timea Bacsinszky
 Switzerland
8 32 Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci
 Italy
Quarterfinal, lost to Lucie Šafářová & Barbora Strýcová
 Czech Republic

The following players received an ITF invitation:

Mixed doubles

Seed Rank Team Status
1 4 Caroline Garcia & Nicolas Mahut
 France
First round, lost to Teliana Pereira & Marcelo Melo
 Brazil
2 6 Kristina Mladenovic & Pierre-Hugues Herbert
 France
First round, lost to Roberta Vinci & Fabio Fognini
 Italy
3 9 Garbiñe Muguruza & Rafael Nadal
 Spain
First round, withdrew
4 16 Sania Mirza & Rohan Bopanna
 India
Lost Bronze medal match to Lucie Hradecká & Radek Štěpánek
 Czech Republic

See also

References

  1. http://www.rio.itftennis.com/media/221444/221444.pdf
  2. "The Olympic Games: Tennis". Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  3. Tandon, Kamakshi (14 February 2015). "Nadal surprised at hard-court selection for 2016 Olympics in Rio". Tennis. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  4. James Masters (10 August 2016). "Serena Williams stunned by Elina Svitolina at Rio 2016 Olympics". CNN. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  5. "Monica Puig tops Angelique Kerber to claim Puerto Rico's first ever gold". The Associated Press. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  6. Joe Posnanski (8 August 2016). "Posnanski Rio Diary: Del Potro stuns Djokovic at the Olympics". Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  7. Kevin Mitchell (15 August 2016). "Andy Murray beats Juan Martín del Potro to win second Olympic gold". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  8. "Andy Murray & Mo Farah knighted in New Year Honours list". 31 December 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2018 via BBC.
  9. "Williams sisters upset in first-round doubles match in Rio". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  10. "Russia's Makarova and Vesnina take women's doubles gold". NBC Olympics. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  11. "Defending gold medalist Bryan brothers withdraw from Rio". USA Today Sports. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  12. "Lopez/Nadal Top Mergea/Tecau For Gold in Rio". ATP World Tour. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  13. "Victoria Azarenka announces pregnancy". Women's Tennis Association. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  14. "Rio 2016 – ITF Tennis Qualification System" (PDF). ITF. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  15. "International Tennis Federation: Qualification Details". International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  16. "Rain, rain, go away: All 26 Rio tennis matches postponed". NBC Olympics. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
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